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Second seed Coco Gauff squandered a set point in a tightly contested first set but rebounded strongly to defeat seventh seed Madison Keys 6-7(6) 6-4 6-1 and book her spot in the Roland Garros semifinals.
The match opened with a chaotic string of three consecutive breaks before Keys finally held serve to take a 3-1 lead. In the following game, Gauff double faulted twice and netted a routine shot, allowing Keys to break again and extend her advantage to 4-1.
Despite trailing 1-4 and facing a 40-15 deficit on Keys’ serve, Gauff staged a spirited comeback. She broke back with a powerful overhead smash after a grueling rally, cutting the lead to 4-2. Gauff then held serve for the first time in the set and continued her resurgence by breaking Keys again—this time capitalizing on a double fault on break point—to draw level at 4-4.
With momentum firmly shifting, Gauff won four straight games and earned a set point at 5-4. Keys, however, held her ground and saved the set point with a clean winner before leveling at 5-5. Gauff responded with a dominant love hold to go up 6-5, but Keys forced a tiebreak after another solid service game.
The tiebreak was tightly contested. At 6-5, Keys earned a set point, which Gauff barely saved as the ball clipped the net cord and trickled over. But the reprieve was short-lived—Gauff double faulted to give Keys a second chance, and then sent a return wide, handing the hard-fought 7–6(6) set to Keys after 47 rollercoaster minutes.
After 34 minutes, the second set was tied at 4-4, with Keys battling back from a 1-4 deficit. However, Gauff regained control, winning the next four games to close out the set and establish a 2-0 lead in the decider. The 2022 French Open finalist cruised through the remainder of the match, which was marred by a high number of unforced errors—101 in total between the two players—offset by just 40 winners.
Gauff’s opponent in the semifinals will be the winner of the last quarterfinal clash between sixth seed Mirra Andreeva and French wildcard Loïs Boisson. The other semifinal, set yesterday, will see world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka take on four-time Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek in a blockbuster showdown.
