Photo credit: Jon Buckle/ROLEX
It was moving day in Paris.
Coco Gauff continued masterful march into an American Roland Garros reunion.
Striking with conviction, Gauff eliminated Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0, 7-5 to score her fourth straight-sets win at this Roland Garros.
The 21-year-old Gauff accelerated into her fifth consecutive Roland Garros quarterfinal—and ninth Grand Slam quarterfinal overall.
The second-seeded Gauff says red clay is her best surface and she’s showing it transforming terre battue into a launching pad.
Today, Gauff served 59 percent and saved eight of nine break points defeating the dangerous Alexandrova for the fourth time in five meetings.
Gauff has now won 14 of his last 16 clay matches—her lone losses in that span to Jasmine Paolini in the Rome final and to No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the Madrid final—as her victory today ensures there will be at least one American woman in the Roland Garros final four.
The 2022 finalist Gauff will play a fellow American—either reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys or No. 70 Hailey Baptiste—for a semifinal spot.
The 30-year–old Keys is 3-2 vs. Gauff, including winning their lone clay clash 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, at the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open. Gauff beat Baptiste, 6-1, 6-4, in their lone encounter at the 2023 Mubadala Citi Open in Washington, DC.