Gauff Wins Ugly, Advances To Second Straight Roland-Garros Semifinal

Coco Gauff
Coco Gauff (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

PARIS/WASHINGTON, June 4, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Wednesday’s all-American quarterfinal between No. 2 seed Coco Gauff and No. 7 seed Madison Keys will not be remembered as the cleanest of matches during this Roland-Garros fortnight. After all the two talented Top-10 players from the United States combined to hit 101 unforced errors – 60 by Keys and 41 from Gauff.

However, to use a term Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, coined, “winning ugly,” that’s what the World No. 2 Gauff did – she won ugly, finding every possible way necessary to win. A final unforced error from Keys provided Gauff with a 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1 victory in two hours and 11 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The victory lifted Gauff into the Roland-Garros semifinals for the third time in the last four years. While it’s been Gauff’s most consistent Grand Slam of the four majors, Wednesday was not about consistency in a match that took place on a chilly day in Paris, in which the roof was closed due to inclement weather.

“I thought with the roof closed it would play slower, which it did in some moments, but I felt it was quick too,” Gauff said during her on-court interview, remarking she had lowered the tension in her racquets due to the conditions. “Also, I was playing Madison, so I don’t know if that was the reason why. …

“Her forehand is one of the best if not the best on tour,” Gauff added. “I was just trying my best to get it on the other side of the court.”

From 4-all in the second, Gauff won eight of the next nine games – and 17 of the final 22 points. She relied upon an effective drop shot to get her out of trouble and to keep Keys off balance. Gauff finished with 15 winners but also committed 10 double faults, while Keys tallied 25 winners. However, her 16 unforced errors in the decider was a big difference between winning and losing. To Gauff’s credit, she won all 10 first-serve points and dropped just two points on serve overall in the final set.

Ugly or not, a win is still a win. It was the 29th of the season for the 21-year-old Gauff and her 25th lifetime at the French Open. She’s the youngest player to achieve that mark since Martina Hingis at age 19 in 2000.

“She seemed very business-like and that’s what I like about her,” remarked Mats Wilander during TNT Sports’ European broadcast. “She’s business-like when she plays. She should have won the first set – and she didn’t – but she didn’t let it bother her at all. She played brilliantly in the third set. The fighting spirit is just brilliant for somebody that young.”

Meanwhile, Keys’ improbable calendar slam bid, which began in January with her capturing the Australian Open, ended Wednesday after Gauff came back from a set down. Keys had compiled 11 straight major victories. Had Gauff not missed a set point in the opener, it might have been a straight-set victory for the American No. 1, who evened her head-to-head with Keys at 3-all.

Now, Gauff, who was the 2022 Roland-Garros runner-up, is through to her fifth Grand Slam semifinal overall – three of them in Paris.

Another Cinderella finish for Boisson in Paris

On Thursday, Gauff will face 361st-ranked Lois Boisson of France, who garnered her second consecutive Top-10 triumph with her 7-6 (6), 6-3, victory over No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia in two hours and eight minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

The second women’s quarterfinal, which matched a French fairytale wild card against a teenage phenom, turned out to be a real showstopper – and the raucous French fans rewarded their Cinderella – Boisson – with a standing ovation after she secured victory on her first match-point opportunity.

The 22-year-old Boisson has become the first Frenchwoman to reach the semifinals since Marion Bartoli in 2011 – and the first in the Open Era to do it as a wild card. She recovered from 3-5 down in the first set – eventually saving two set points in the process – and won the opener 8-6 in a tie-break after Andreeva served for the set at 5-4 and held another set point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker. It came on Boisson’s fourth set point after an hour and 21 minutes of dramatic play.

Then, Boisson recovered from 0-3 down in the shorter second set and won the last six games of the match. The Dijon, France native proved the steadier player in the final moments. She played fearless tennis.

It’s a pretty remarkable achievement – one of the craziest stories in tennis history, according to one veteran tennis scribe – to see the rookie Boisson advance to the semifinals at not only her first Roland-Garros but also her first major. By the end of her win over the 18-year-old Andreeva, it was Boisson – not her opponent – who showed the ability to control her emotions and nerves. She kept her cool from first ball to last ball. At the end, it was the Frenchwoman who got to celebrate.

By winning, Boisson became just the third woman to make the semifinals at their first Grand Slam since 1980. The others: Monica Seles in 1989 and Jennifer Capriati in 1990. Both of them accomplished their feat at the French Open, and each is enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

“For sure I will not believe that if you tell me that two weeks ago,” Boisson told reporters after defeating World No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the fourth round on Monday. “Now it’s that, and I’m so happy about it.”

After beating Andreeva, Boisson said: “For sure, I will go for the dream because my dream is to win it, not to get to the semifinals.”

Imagine being Boisson and winning the biggest match of your career not once, but twice – and in three days! That’s her story and it continues to be written.

Sinner extends Grand Slam match winning streak to 19

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner won his 19th straight Grand Slam match with his 6-1, 7-5, 6-0 victory over No. 62 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan one hour and 49 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier Wednesday afternoon. By winning, the 23-year-old from San Candido, Italy became the first Italian man to reach six Grand Slam semifinals in history.

In improving his head-to-head against the Russian-born Bublik to 4-1, Sinner won for the 17th time this season in 18 matches – his only loss came against Carlos Alcaraz in the ATP Masters 1000 Rome final last month – and he did it by crafting a bagel set to close out his display of dominance. Now, Sinner is just two victories away from garnering his third straight major title – and first Roland-Garros crown – after lifting trophies to win the 2024 US Open and the 2025 Australian Open.

“We played a couple times already, so you know a little bit what to expect,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “But in another way, with him, you never know what is happening. He deserved to be in the quarterfinals, he beat very tough opponents. I tried to stay focused from my side of the court and play as solid as possible as he can have some ups and downs. I am trying to serve very well in important moments, which I have done.”

Sinner, who did not drop a set en route to his quarterfinal match-up with Bublik – losing just 30 games – remained unblemished as he raced to a 5-0 lead against his opponent in the opening set. Then, after breaking Bublik to win the middle set 7-5, Sinner finished with a flourish by capturing the last eight games.

After winning 15 straight sets in Paris, Sinner was asked by TNT Sports’ Jon Wertheim if he’s playing as well as his score lines suggest. The top seed replied: “It’s tough to say, but for sure I’m trying to play every point as if it’s the last one. I try to be there mentally – trying to understand what’s working well, what’s not working well. Today was different than the other matches because there were ups and downs from my opponent. The conditions started off cold, then the sun came out, then it was lousy, again. Then, after cold, again, it was windy. A different condition on court, but, again, I’m happy to be in the semis and, obviously, happy about my level I’m playing.”

Sinner won 78 percent (35 of 45) of his first-serve points, hit 31 winners, made only 13 unforced errors, and converted six of 14 break-point chances. By comparison, Bublik won just 67 percent (38 of 57) of his first-serve points, hit 22 winners, committed 37 unforced errors and was 0-for-2 in break-point chances. Sinner outpointed Bublik 101-65.

Sinner joins fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the semifinals, marking the second time in history that two Italian men had been to the semifinals of the same Grand Slam event – 65 years after Nicola Pietrangeli and Orlando Sirola advanced to the 1960 semifinals in Paris.

Djokovic becomes oldest Roland-Garros semifinalist in 57 years

On Friday, Sinner will face World No. 6 Novak Djokovic of Serbia for the ninth time, looking to break a 4-4 tie in their career head-to-head.

Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion – three time winner of Roland-Garros – and this year’s sixth seed defeated World No. 3 and third seed Alexander Zverev of Germany, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, in three hours and 17 minutes Wednesday evening on Court Philippe-Chatrier in the final night session of this year’s clay-court major. He won on his fifth match-point opportunity after Zverev sent a forehand long that ended a 16-shot rally. It was Zverev’s 44th unforced error of the match.

Djokovic, who finished with 42 winners to 29 unforced errors, outpointed Zverev 121-101 in besting the German No. 1 for the ninth time in 14 career meetings and fourth time at a major.

At age 38, Djokovic became the oldest Roland-Garros semifinalist in 57 years, since then-40-year-old Pancho Gonzales of the United States, reached the last four at Paris in 1968.

Around Stade Roland-Garros

• Unseeded Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia pulled off the upset of the women’s doubles tournament when they took out No. 1 seeds Katerina Siniakova of Czechia and Taylor Townsend of the United States, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, in two hours and 28 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. The Kazakh/Serbian duo converted seven of 13 break points and outpointed their opponent 107-97.

In the semifinal round, Danilina and Krunic will face Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway and Eri Hozumi of Japan, who defeated Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania and Yanina Wickmayer, 6-4, 6-3, in a battle of unseeded teams in one hour and 53 minutes on Court Simonne-Mathieu. The other semifinal will pair No. 2 seeds Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini of Italy and against No. 4 seeds Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider of Russia.

• In men’s doubles, No. 5 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina advanced to the semifinal round for the fourth straight year with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Orlando Luz of Brazil in one hour and 57 minutes on Court Simonne-Mathieu. They saved all three break points they faced. Next, they will face No. 16 seeds Hugo Nys of Monaco and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, who eliminated unseeded Sander Arends of the Netherlands and Luke Johnson of Great Britain, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, in one hour and 59 minutes on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

• In mixed doubles, No. 3 seeds Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori of Italy advanced to the final after defeating No. 2 seeds Zhang Shuai of China and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador, 6-2, 6-3, in 59 minutes on Court Simonne-Mathieu. They will face No. 4 seeds Taylor Townsend and Evan King of the United States in the final after the American duo rallied to defeat unseeded Desirae Krawczyk of the United States and Neal Skupski of Great Britain, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 12-10. Townsend and King saved two match points during the match tie-break and won on their first match-point opportunity during the one-hour, 46-minute semifinal on Court Simonne-Mathieu.

Wednesday’s Roland-Garros results

Thursday’s Roland-Garros order of play

By the numbers

• With her victory over World No. 8 Madison Keys on Wednesday afternoon, Coco Gauff now owns 29 wins in her career over Top-10 players.

• An unseeded player has reached the Roland-Garros final twice in the last four years: In 2021, eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova, and in 2023 Karolina Muchova. Now Lois Boisson has a chance to become the third player if she beats Coco Gauff on Thursday.

“Quotable …”

“It means a lot, especially getting through this tough match today – it was not an easy match. I have a lot more work here left to do. I’ll savor this one today and I’ll be ready for tomorrow’s match.”

– World No. 2 Coco Gauff of the United States, following her 25th career win at Roland-Garros, a 3-set victory over World No. 8 Madison Keys.

 

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