Coco Gauff knows what she is up against in her U.S. Open semifinal against Elena Rybakina, whose firepower has vaulted her to the top of the tennis rankings.
“That’s all I can do. That’s how Gauff earned her first title in Flushing Meadows and why she’s still in the running for another. Gauff overcame a horrible start to give herself a chance at a second U.S. Open trophy.
She won the tournament in 2023, when she had to shake off a similar rough beginning against Aryna Sabalenka in the final. Andreeva, the French Open champion, won the first seven points and took the first set in 26 minutes before the No. 4-seeded Gauff regrouped. Gauff won a 39-shot rally to take a 5-3 lead in the tiebreaker, but Andreeva took the next three points to earn her first match point. Gauff erased that when the Russian sent a forehand long, then stopped Andreeva’s second chance at 7-6.
“I know I’m going to have some aces hit on me and some winners hit on me, but I’m going to keep fighting and give it my all,” Gauff said. She said during the break after the first set she thought about fellow American Frances Tiafoe, who came from two sets down in his quarterfinal match a day earlier. “So, honestly I was just trying to literally leave the court with no regrets,” Gauff said.
“That was a bit pity for me to lose this match, but obviously I could take positive things from U.S. Open this year.” Gauff fought off a couple match points in a tiebreaker and beat Mirra Andreeva 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 on Wednesday to set up matchup against the new No. 1 in women’s tennis.
“It’s just a number right now and of course I’m in the semis so my goal is to win the tournament,” Rybakina said. “I think the wins that I had so far are great, but obviously today in the match I got a lot of chances in the third set, but I didn’t take it,” Zheng said. “It’s an amazing achievement but you know how quick everything can change in tennis, ranking-wise, during the match, so I feel like I just need to focus on my game, try to recover and enjoy tomorrow.