Gauff wins youth battle with Andreeva

Coco Gauff moved into the final four on the WTA side of the Madrid Masters on Wednesday, winning a battle of youth over Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-1.

The American fourth seed, aged 21, who finished her match in the previous round only minutes before this week’s major power outage which left much of Spain in the dark, won the second-youngest combined quarter-final at the 1000 level since 2009.

Andreeva turned 18 this week.

Former US Open champion Gauff reached her ninth 1000 semi, her third on clay after Rome in 2021 and 2024.

Gauff came from a break down in the opening set, lifting it on her third opportunity after Andreeva saved two set-winners in the 10th game.

She advanced to victory with wins in nine of the final 10 games at the Caja Magica and takes a modest 3-11 record into her semi with Iga Swiatek.

The five-time Grand Slam champion from Poland had to recover from a bagel opening set to overhaul Madison Keys 0-6, 6-3, 6-2

Swiatek, defending the Spanish title, is coming of of two losses to Gauff in their series, at Cincinnati, 2023 and January’s United Cup.

“I always feel I have a good chance against anybody,” she said heading into the pair’s 15th matchup. “If I go into the match thinking I don’t (have chances) then I’ve already lost the match.

“I don’t pay attention to the sets (match record) or anything, because at the end of the day it’s a new week, new time. 

“I lost the first set of this tournament, 6-0, and everybody was like, Ooh,
she’s going to lose next round, or whatever. 

“It’s just tennis: you lose, you reset, you start again. I’m going to expect her to play probably her best tennis, and I’ll try to match that by playing my best tennis.”