Coco Gauff becomes only third American in 56 years to achieve rare French Open feat after storming into Roland Garros semi-final

Coco Gauff has punched her ticket to the French Open semi-finals.

The world no. 3 battled from a set behind to beat eighth seed Ons Jabeur, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in their round of 16 clash.

The American phenom is into her second semi-final at Roland Garros having reached the final in 2022.

In making the final four, Gauff has become only the third American in the Open Era (since 1968) to reach multiple women’s singles semi-finals at Roland Garros before the age of 21.

She joins Chris Evert and Andrea Jaeger on that exclusive list.

At 20 years and 82 days, Gauff is also the youngest player to reach three or more consecutive women’s singles semi-finals at Grand Slam events since Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova reached four semis between Wimbledon 2006 and Roland Garros 2007, while Gauff has been a semifinalist at the 2023 US Open, 2024 Australian Open and now the 2024 French Open.

Gauff is now only the second player since 2000 to claim 20+ women’s singles match wins at Roland Garros before turning 21, along with her potential opponent, Iga Swiatek (21). 

Speaking after her win against Jabeur, Gauff said: “She’s a tough opponent and she is well loved on tour.

“Whenever she is not playing, I cheer for her too so thank you guys for making it a great atmosphere. I like playing in atmospheres like this. I know you wanted her to win but even when I was in the bathroom, I was thinking this is really fun, win or lose.

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“There were two people sitting behind my bench cheering. I know I have a lot of love in Paris, trust me I know. I really appreciate it. Hopefully you guys can help me make it through to the next round.

Speaking on coming back from a set down, she the 20-year-old said: “I was definitely trying to be more aggressive, she was playing really well for the whole match. She was hitting a lot of winners on me which is something I’m not used to against anybody. Today I was trying to be aggressive towards the end and I got a little bit tight on the couple of match points but I think I did what I needed to do to win the match.”

Gauff will now face the winner of Swiatek and Markéta Vondroušová for a place in the French Open final.