Coco Gauff battled her way into the French Open semi-finals for the second successive season.
The 21-year-old found herself in trouble in Thursday’s quarter-final against compatriot Madison Keys.
She lost the first set and was struggling to find her best tennis, but Keys was also finding things tough from her side of the net.
Ultimately it came down to a battle of will, and Gauff once again showed her toughness to come from behind and seal a 6-7, 6-4, 6-1 win.
Tim Henman assesses Coco Gauff’s French Open quarter-final performance
Coco Gauff struggled to find her best tennis through the first and second sets against Keys.
She trailed set one 1-4, but won four successive games to go ahead 5-4, only to lose the first set via a tiebreak.
Gauff was able to level proceedings after another scrappy set of tennis before raising her level to storm through set three and claim victory.
Despite committing 41 total unforced errors and registering 10 double faults, TNT Sports commentator Tim Henman expressed what he liked about Gauff’s performance.
“There are times where it looks painful out on court for Coco. The second serve is unreliable. She serves some bad double faults. She shanks some forehands,” the Brit said.
“But it’s her ability to just park it and move on to the next point. Her resilience at such a young age is so impressive and she needed it today.
She did not get off to a good start, she managed to battle her way back into that first set and even though she lost it she was never going to go away and the way she fought through the second was hugely impressive and she ran away with the third.”
Coco Gauff says she made a change which helped her beat Madison Keys at the French Open
Gauff has been very solid throughout her French Open campaign until her quarter-final against Keys.
She began the match trailing 1-4 and she looked set to be heading for a swift first-set defeat.
But the American made a change to her racket after that changeover, which enabled her to erase the deficit, and ultimately win the match.
“I changed [the tension] at 4-1, and after that I had chances to win the first set,” Gauff said. “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!”
