Gauff rallied from dropping the first set to win 6-2, 6-4 and advance to the semifinals.
Coco Gauff is through to the semifinals at the Italian Open in Rome, but she had to fight for every game to get there.
The American star defeated Mirra Andreeva in 3 sets today, dropping the opener before rallying to take the second 6-2 and closing it out with a 6-4 third that stretched patience from both sides of the court. It was exactly the kind of high-stakes, quality tennis fans of both young players had hoped to see from the moment this draw was set.
How the 3 sets played out
Set 1 belonged to Andreeva. The young Russian arrived with a clear and disciplined game plan. She was not going to try to outrun Gauff, who is one of the most physically dominant movers on the WTA tour. Instead, she aimed to keep rallies alive, redirect the ball to the corners, and let Gauff’s power become a liability. It worked. Andreeva earned two breaks of serve to Gauff’s one, staying composed and in control from the baseline throughout.
Set 2 saw the momentum shift sharply. Andreeva, who has a history of losing composure under pressure, began to misfire on her serve and could not convert any of the break chances she earned. Gauff tightened her own game in response, pressed her advantages when they appeared, and walked away with the set 6-2 to pull the match level.
Set 3 was where the real drama arrived. Gauff raced to a 5-1 lead, looking like the player completely in control of her destiny. She was not. Unable to close out the match on her serve, she was broken to 5-2, watched Andreeva hold to make it 5-3, and then was broken again to see her lead cut all the way to 5-4. The parallel to Madrid was unavoidable. The week before, Gauff had led Linda Noskova 4-1 in the third set, only to lose in a tiebreak.
What followed was a final game lasting over 13 minutes. Gauff reached her third and fourth match points of the set on Andreeva’s serve but could not convert either of them. When she finally broke through, she closed the set 6-4 and took the match.
What comes next in Rome
Gauff will face 36-year-old Sorana Cirstea in the semifinals, and the backstory makes the matchup far more interesting than the seedings suggest. Cirstea announced before this season that 2026 would be her final year on tour. Rather than winding down toward a quiet farewell, she has played some of the best tennis of her entire career. Her run to the Italian Open semifinals is the deepest she has ever reached in this tournament.
Gauff showed something important in Rome today: when the match threatened to fall apart entirely, she found a way to hold on. Doing it again against a veteran with nothing to lose will be the next test of that resilience.