What's in a comeback for Coco Gauff? It's about "not leaving the court with regrets"

Fifteen times this year, Coco Gauff has trailed by a set in a match. Eight times, she's come back to win—including three straight times this week at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.

So, what's the key to being the WTA's comeback queen?

"For me, it's [about] just not leaving the court with regrets," Gauff said after a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Mirra Andreeva on Tuesday, her fifth win in five career meetings against the teenager.

While Gauff is usually the one erasing big deficits to win—she trailed Solana Sierra 3-0 in the decider in the third round, and saved a match point against compatriot Iva Jovic en route to winning in the fourth—she nearly got a taste of her own medicine against Andreeva. After dropping her first set in the last nine played in their head-to-head, Gauff opened up a 5-1 lead in the final set after racing through the second.

From there, Andreeva won three straight games, and saved two match points, to get the set back on serve. In a titanic final game, that lasted seven deuces, Andreeva had five chances to knot the score at 5-5 before Gauff wrapped up the win on her fifth match point,

"I know when I play her she can play great tennis at any moment," Gauff said in her post-match press conference. "But I was also thinking, I saved a match point in the last round, so I could easily not be here today. I think I was just trying to appreciate just being here even if those match points weren't going my way."

"I was trying to find the balance of being aggressive and just not missing," she added when speaking to Tennis Channel, "It's a missed opportunity, but that doesn't mean you can't get another one, and [I was thinking that] hopefully with the math, one will go my way."

Gauff is now through to the semifinals in Rome for a fourth time, and bids to be just the second American woman this century to reach multiple finals at the Foro Italico after Serena Williams. She will face Sorana Cirstea in the final four, against whom Gauff has had one of her patented escapes twice this year.