Coco Gouf overcame a 10 double fault, and the first set she dropped at the French Open defeated Madison Quays 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1 on Wednesday to reach her third semi-final.
The match was filled with many mistakes by both Americans, each claiming one major championship. They combined 101 unprotected errors with just 40 winners for over two hours under the closed roof of Cote Philippe Chatelier on a drizzling cold day.
“I was trying to fight for all the points,” Gouf said.
Second-seeded Gouf, who won the 2023 US Open and ranner-up at the 2022 French Open, will face the winner in the semi-finals on Thursday between No. 6 Mira Andreva and the 361 ranked French wildcard Royce Boisson. Goff is 4-0 in his career against Andreva, including two wins in 2025 and has never faced a Boisson.
“There’s a lot to do,” Goff said. Goff lifted his head above his head before spreading his arms after the final point against the key, but “I’m going to taste this today.”
She started out particularly poorly against the key, chasing 4-1, and the point from a 5-1 deficit. Gouf bowed his head or sighed after a few mistakes. Then suddenly, she used her speed and instinct to increase the points, until Key (Australian Open Champion in January) missed.
It helped Gauff get inside the point where he takes that set. However, the Florida-based 21-year-old double-faulted three times with a tiebreaker and quickly headed to the locker room, where he was reorganized.
The first set was sloppy. Gauff had seven winners on 21 forced errors. Keys has 12 winners on 28 forced errors. Of these, 19 arrived from strong forehands.
“I just knew today that I had to just be able to run, and as soon as the ball gets short,” Goff said, “I’ll just punish her.”
Again, Gauff scrambles like this to get her racket with shots from the keys that end points against many other players. Often it worked well, leading to mistakes by Keys.
“In her ability to cover the courts, Keys said, “You’ll have to win points many times before you actually finish.”
Gauff is 4-0 in the French open carrier when he lost his first set and won the second set. According to an ESPN survey, she is linking her with Elina Svitolina for such a victory, without losses since 2019.
She also became the youngest woman since Martina Hingis (1995-2000) to claim a 25 main draw victory at Roland Garros.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.