- PARIS — Second
seed Coco Gauff weathered early racquet tension, scoreboard pressure, and a
fierce challenge from fellow American Madison Keys to book her place in the
semifinals of the 2025 French Open at the Stade Roland Garros.
-
- The No. 2 seed rallied from a set down to win 6-7(6), 6-4,
6-1 in 2 hours and 11 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier, ending Keys’ 11-match
Grand Slam winning streak.
Also read: French Open: Bublik stuns Draper; reaches first Grand Slam quarterfinal
-
- With the roof closed due to the chillier conditions, Gauff
made a strategic adjustment by lowering her racquet tension — a decision she
soon regretted. “I changed [the tension] at 4-1, and after that, I had chances
to win the first set,” Gauff said in her on-court interview with Mats Wilander.
“It’s difficult to find the tension and how you want to play…I thought with the
roof closed it would play slower, which it did in some moments, but I felt it
was quick too. Also, I was playing Madison, so I don’t know if that was the
reason why!”
-
- After a flurry of early unforced errors saw her go down a
double break, Gauff adjusted both mentally and technically. She clawed her way
back to lead 5-4 and even held a set point, but Keys saved it with a forehand
winner. The seventh seed then capitalised on three double faults from Gauff in
the tiebreak to sneak ahead.
-
- But Gauff, the 2022 finalist in Paris, showed resilience.
She took a 4-1 lead in the second set, only for Keys to come storming back and
level things at 4-all. At that point, Gauff produced her shot of the day — a
sublime angled backhand passing shot off a Keys smash — to break serve again
and close out the set.
-
- From there, the match was firmly in Gauff’s grasp. With her
groundstrokes under control and her tactics sharpened, she raced through the
third set, winning 17 of the final 22 points. Her frequent use of the drop shot
and improved movement left Keys searching for answers.
-
- Statistically, it wasn’t the cleanest affair — Gauff
finished with 15 winners and 41 unforced errors, while Keys posted 25 winners
and a costly 60 unforced errors. But it was the 21-year-old who found composure
in the moments that mattered. In the deciding set, Gauff committed just two
unforced errors, compared to 16 from Keys.
