Photo credit: Antoine Couvercelle/ROLEX
Dislodging clumps of clay with heavy drives, Madison Keys showed sheer power in the first set.
A fierce Coco Gauff unleashed closing power in the decider.
In a nervy all-American clash of major champions, Gauff roared through eight of the last nine games conquering Keys 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-1 to advance to her third Roland Garros semifinal in the last four years.
The 2022 French Open finalist snapped Keys’ 11-match major winning streak and made history of her own.
The 21-year–old Gauff improved to 25-5 lifetime at Roland Garros—she’s the youngest woman since the legendary Martina Hingis to post 25 wins in Paris.
Hunting for her second career Grand Slam crown, Gauff will face either 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva, the 2024 semifinalist, or French wild card and Cinderella story Lois Boisson, who shocked No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the fourth round.
“I changed something at 4-1 and then after that I had chances to win the first set,” Gauff told Hall of Famer Mats Wilander afterward. “I was just trying to hit the ball deep and be aggressive, but it’s tough because she hits the ball so fast and low.
“She’s obviously a very great player. Her forehand is probably one of the best if not the best on the Tour. I was just trying my best to get it on the other side of the court…Honestly I knew I had to be able to run today and as soon as the ball came short I had to punish her for it.”
Indeed, ultimately Gauff won this quarterfinal on quick court coverage and consistency realizing Keys was struggling to land the ball between the lines during the limited longer exchanges.
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Truth be told, this was unruly—and at times—ugly tennis as the pair combined for 14 breaks and 101 unforced errors.
Australian Open champion Keys, who played such dynamic tennis under extreme pressure beating Iga Swiatek and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in succession in capturing her maiden major in Melbourne, wasn’t swinging freely today. Keys coughed up 60 unforced errors, often flat-lining drives into net, while Gauff clanked 10 double faults, including seven doubles in that opening set.
Credit Gauff for cleaning up her game considerably when it mattered most.
In the final set, Gauff made just two unforced errors, while Keys committed 16 unforced errors.
On a cool, damp, drizzly Paris afternoon the retractable roof over Court Philippe Chatrier was closed. It created clean conditions for ball striking, but also a pressure cooker for this quarterfinal. Gauff said later the closed roof created slower conditions—that favored one of the fastest women in the sport.
“I changed [string] tension,” Gauff said. “It’s difficult to find the tension and how you want to play, honestly.
This was more high drama than high quality. Given the stakes you can understand why it was more scratchy than superb play.
In a jittery start that saw both women struggle to control their drives, Keys went up 4-1, 40-15 and was two points from a 5-1 lead.
However, Gauff dug in and was drawing errors from her opponent. Keys could not find net clearance and was slapping shot after shot into net as Gauff streaked through four games in a row for a 5-4 lead.
Facing set point at 4-5, Keys showed guts driving an inside-out forehand dagger to deny it and eventually hold to level after 10 games.
Tension tightened in the tiebreaker.
Holding a 4-3 tiebreaker lead, Gauff hit her sixth double fault and it was level. At 5-all, Gauff sent a forehand long giving Keys set point.
Slicing a backhand that skimmed the tape then died in the dirt, Gauff saved it only to cough up her seventh double fault into the bottom of the net ceding a second set point.
On her second set point, Keys kicked the wide serve, drew a wild backhand return and snatched a one-set lead just under one hour of play.
In a challenging opening game of the second set, Keys denied four break points. She caught a break when Gauff stopped play at one point believing her opponent’s drive was wide. The chair umpire came out, checked the mark and called it good even though Hawk-Eye showed it had indeed landed slightly wide.
Standing tall through a seven-minute stress test, Keys held for 1-0.
Down a set, Gauff started serving bigger and was striking her forehand with more conviction.
Flipping the script from the first set, Gauff broke twice in a row taking a 4-1 second-set lead after one hour, 25 minutes.
A ninth double fault from Gauff gave one of the breaks back in the sixth game.
Zapping a crosscourt forehand, Keys spun a forehand into the open court breaking back to level at 4-all.
A topsy-turvy match offered another twist as Gauff lashed a forehand off the baseline to score her third break of the set for 5-4.
A fired-up Gauff sealed the second set when Keys put a backhand into the middle of the net. Gauff unleashed a celebratory “come on!” forcing a decider after one hour, 43 minutes of play.
The 30-year-old Keys is a beautiful ball striker when on form, but she was struggling to consistently control her drives. Keys was flattening backhands into net and floating forehands long. A diagonal forehand flew long as Gauff broke to start the third set.
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A focused Gauff threw down a love hold to confirm the break for 2-0.
The WTA Finals champion's fierce speed around the court shrunk a skittish Keys’ targets even more. By then, Gauff was striking her forehand with more conviction.
Clubbing successive forehands down the line brought Gauff her 16th break point of the match. Cracking a crosscourt backhand off the sideline that died at Keys’ feet, Gauff scored her eighth break for a commanding 4-1 lead.
The second-seeded Gauff streaked through six points in a row stamping her ninth break of the match to close in two hours, 11 minutes.