US Open: Coco Gauff survives array of unforced errors, double faults while coming back to top Mirra Andreeva in quarters

Mirra Andreeva had never beaten Coco Gauff before Wednesday. The 19-year-old Russian was 0-5 against the two-time Grand Slam champion American.

In a US Open showdown between the French Open's past two victors, Andreeva flirted with a long awaited retribution and a chance to inch closer to another major title after asserting her dominance at Roland-Garros in June .

Gauff, though, never went away. As she's wont to do, she battled and dug herself out of hole, embracing the pressure of the moment. On home soil and the hardcourt where she won her first major in 2023, Gauff prevailed.

She endured a head-scratching start and a gut-check second set and won 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-2.

Gauff came into the day firing on all cylinders in a tournament she preceded by winning the Cincinnati Open. She entered Wednesday on a career-long 20-set win streak. Her serve and forehand had been cooperating, leaving her without a real kryptonite in Queens.

Unfortunately for the 22-year-old Gauff, those two aspects of her game faltered in her first set against Andreeva. Her unforced errors piled up early as she dropped the first seven points of the match and quickly went down 2-0. Then her double faulting assisted Andreeva in completing a double break.

Just 12 minutes into the match, Gauff found herself down 4-0. While she scrounged together a couple games down the stretch of that opening stanza, Andreeva stood tall for a 6-2 victory to take a speedy lead at Arthur Ashe Stadium, which had been the site of long, drawn-out competition over the previous 24 hours.

In the first set, Andreeva won 27 points, 11 more than Gauff, whereas Gauff committed 14 unforced errors, nine more than Andreeva. Plus, Gauff wasn't really able to get to net.

But she won four points there to claim a 1-0 advantage in the second set. Just when it looked like she might return to form, she went wide on a forehand at 15-15 in the subsequent game and then on a backhand the very next point.

She lost that game yet kept some scoreboard pressure on Andreeva by winning her second service game of the set. Gauff rebounded from back-to-back double faults with back-to-back effective first serves, including her first ace.

Up 2-1 in the second set, Gauff reached her first break point; however, Andreeva saved it and wound up holding serve to knot things up 2-2.

Still, there's no doubt Gauff was hitting the ball better most of the second frame. And she finally broke Andreeva in the sixth game. The problem was, Andreeva broke back in a marathon seventh once Gauff overhit a backhand and misfired on a forehand.

Both Andreeva and Gauff struggled with their serve late in the set, as they took turns double faulting and breaking each other. In fact, there were four consecutive service breaks. That streak was snapped when Andreeva held to make it 5-5. Although Gauff gutted out a 30-shot rally in a potential set-clinching game, it went to tiebreak.

There, they went back and forth as well.

A Gauff drop shot punctuated an epic 39-shot exchange, giving her a 5-3 advantage in the tiebreak. Andreeva fought back with a signature backhand winner. A long forehand from Gauff drew Andreeva even. Gauff sliced a forehand into the net, setting up a match point for Andreeva. Impossible to count out, Gauff saved that one and another en route to winning the tiebreak 9-7.

Gauff earned a break-point opportunity in the third game of the third set when she tracked down a lob toward the baseline and answered with one over her head. Andreeva volleyed that moon ball into the net, much to the surprise of the crowd.

The next point, Gauff put on a clinic at the net to steal the game. Emotions boiled over for Andreeva, who, until that moment, had maintained her composure. She threw a racket down at the blue acrylic, and it nearly bounced into a cameraman.

From there, Andreeva began to unravel more. Gauff broke her in the seventh game of the final set and served out the match to punch her ticket to the US Open semis.