American Coco Gauff fought off a couple match points in a tiebreaker and beat Mirra Andreeva 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 in the US Open quarterfinals Wednesday, in what was the latest comeback to happen on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
With six men's and women's quarterfinal matches going to deciding sets, the 2026 US Open tied the 1980 Australian Open, 2005 US Open and 2022 Wimbledon for most in the Open era.
In the semifinals, Gauff will face No. 2 Elena Rybakina, who staged a comeback of her own in edging Zheng Qinwen earlier Wednesday, guaranteeing she will become No. 1 in the WTA rankings after the tournament.
"Elena, well she's the new world No. 1, so it's going to be a tough match," Gauff said.
Gauff, 22, overcame a horrible start to give herself a chance at a second US Open title. She won the tournament in 2023, when she had to overcome a similar rough beginning against Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
"I think the motto of the match is just to fight," Gauff said.
Andreeva, the 19-year-old French Open champion, won the first seven points and took the first set in 26 minutes before the No. 4-seeded Gauff regrouped. She said during the break after the first set she thought about fellow American Frances Tiafoe, who came from two sets down in his quarterfinal match a day earlier.
"So, honestly I was just trying to literally leave the court with no regrets," Gauff said.
Gauff won a 39-shot rally to take a 5-3 lead in the tiebreaker, but Andreeva took the next three points to earn her first match point. Gauff erased that when the Russian sent a forehand long, then stopped Andreeva's second chance at 7-6.
Then it was mostly all Gauff in the third set en route to her seventh Grand Slam semifinal.
The top-ranked Sabalenka faces No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the other semifinal Thursday. This is the second time in the Open era that all top four women's seeds reached the US Open semifinals; the last time it happened was in 1975 (No. 1 Chris Evert, No. 2 Virginia Wade, No. 3 Martina Navratilova, No. 4 Evonne Goolagong).
The win Wednesday was Gauff's 90th at a major, tying Evert for the fourth most by any American woman before turning 23 in the Open era after Venus Williams (107), Serena Williams (103) and Mary Joe Fernandez (93).
Gauff has won 11 straight match wins dating back to Cincinnati, which she also won in 2023 en route to her first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
