Coco Gauff snaps Madison Keys streak to reach 2025 Roland Garros semifinals

Coco Gauff rallied from a set down to snap Madison Keys’ 11-match winning streak at major tournaments, overcoming the Australian Open champion, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1 to reach the semifinals at 2025 Roland Garros.

Gauff lost her first set of the tournament but weathered the momentum swings of an all-American quarterfinal to advance in two hours and 11 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

"It's just I have always had that in me, and not just in tennis but in everything," she said of her fighting spirit after the match. "I'm a very competitive person.

"My philosophy is if I can just leave it all out there, then the loss will hurt a lot less than regrets of maybe not giving it your all."

Playing her first major tournament as a Grand Slam champion, Keys took an 11-match major win streak into her third Roland Garros quarterfinal—and her first since 2019. The American saved match points to outlast 2020 finalist Sofia Kenin in the third round and won a fourth-round battle with Hailey Baptiste to book a sixth career meeting with Gauff.

Keys led their head-to-head 3-2 coming into Wednesday’s match, winning their only previous clay-court encounter in three sets at the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open. Playing under the Chatrier roof, the 30-year-old Keys got off to a quick start against her younger but almost equally experienced opponent, breaking three times en route to a 4-1 lead.

"I think a lot to be proud of," Keys reflected in press. "I didn't have a flawless clay court season, so to come and have kind of the matches that I did and play the level that I did for as many matches as I did here I think is a huge accomplishment and something that I'm going to take onto the grass."

Gauff, who won their only Grand Slam meeting at the 2022 US Open, has been in the midst of a clay-court revival after struggling for consistency following her Australian Open quarterfinal exit to Paula Badosa. Despite a strong start to the season with a victory at United Cup, which featured a tour de force performance over former nemesis Iga Swiatek, the 21-year-old began the clay swing in uncertain form, taking early exits at both the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open.

She turned things around in Madrid and Rome, where she reached back-to-back finals and returned to her career-high ranking of No. 1. Into the quarterfinals of Roland Garros without dropping a set, the 2022 runner-up won four straight games from her initial double-break deficit, holding a set point on Keys’ serve at 5-4.

Keys rallied and forced a tiebreaker, ultimately serving out the Sudden Death on her second set point.

Despite losing the set, Gauff continued her late-set momentum by taking a double-break lead of her own, but Keys closed the gap as the match ticked past the 90-minute mark, reclaiming both breaks with a well-executed approach to the net.

Just as Gauff appeared out of the match she scored another break on the Keys serve and held on to force a deciding set.

A long game kicked off the final set and Gauff, who has lost her last three Roland Garros campaigns only to eventual champ Iga Swiatek, opened with a break as Keys missed a forehand. Opening up another double-break advantage, Gauff nailed a deft drop shot to put herself in position for a 5-1 lead, following it up with a strong serve to move within four points of the finish line.

A forehand passing shot set up three match points, Gauff converting as Keys missed a final forehand long.

Standing between Gauff and a second Roland Garros final will be French wild card Loïs Boisson, who backed up her upset of Jessica Pegula with another stunner over No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva.

"I have played Jasmine in Rome. I've played Jasmine and Sara in Rome. I've played Caroline and Kristina here," Gauff said of her experience playing home favorites. "So I have some experience playing, like, against a crowd that maybe is not rooting for you. It's something I'm looking forward to if it were to happen."