Chants were ringing out and Tunisian flags were flying on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Tuesday. Ons Jabeur, feeling at home on the world’s biggest clay court, rode that energy in the opening set against Coco Gauff, producing a bevy of line-licking shots that rallied her myriad supporters even further.
Through a scintillating opening set Jabeur’s racquet doubled as a magic wand, and all of her nuance was on full display – the beguiling touch, the acrobatic panache and the sudden injections of power, it was all there.
Down a set, Gauff had no choice but to dig in and face the music, and the 20-year-old did just that, putting every ounce of her mental toughness on display as she turned the momentum and quietened the crowd en route to an impressive 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 triumph and a second career semi-final appearance on the Parisian clay.
Story of the match
Blue skies and barely a breeze made for perfect playing conditions in the opening set, and Jabeur took full advantage. Gauff started well, keeping it on serve until 3-3 but was ultimately twisted in knots by Jabeur’s shotmaking chicanery as the 29-year-old took control of the set when she converted her second break point of the seventh game to lead 4-3.
Under pressure often, Gauff saved another pair of break points to hold for 4-5, but the No.8 seed quickly closed the set with an ace down the T.
A different American was on show at the start of the second set and the turnaround commenced quickly, with Gauff emerging from a break as a more aggressive player. The Florida native, who had committed 14 unforced errors in the opening set and hit only two baseline winners, started to take the play to Jabeur.
She cracked nine winners in the middle set and converted all three break points she earned to force a decider.
Now confidently clicking through the gears, the No.3 seed moved ahead with a break for 3-1 in the final set and held off a late fightback from Jabeur, who saved a match point while serving at 2-5, and had a break point to get back on serve.
Much to her chagrin, the break chance evaporated when Jabeur floated her forehand return long for deuce - opportunity wasted, but it wouldn't be the last.
The Tunisian kept the crowd engaged until the end, saving a second Gauff match point with trademark brilliance – an overhead drop volley that whipped the crowd to a frenzy – but she badly missed on an overhead on Gauff’s third match point to end proceedings in one hour
The American has won four of the last five times she has dropped the opening set at the majors, with her only loss coming to Aryna Sabalenka at this year’s Australian Open.
Gauff turned the match around by drilling down on the forehand side. Jabeur looked to exploit that wing throughout the match, but only had big success with the tactic in the opening set.
The splits tell that story. Gauff hit one forehand winner in the opening set, but added seven across the final two sets. The 2022 Roland-Garros runner-up made eight forehand unforced errors in the opening set, but gave Jabeur just seven more for the rest of the match.
Gauff also hit a 205kph serve (127.4mph), which is the fastest serve hit by a woman at Roland-Garros this year. She finished with three aces on the day and saved six of eight break points overall.
According to the WTA, at 20 years and 82 days Gauff has become the youngest player to reach three or more consecutive women’s singles semi-finals at Grand Slam events since Maria Sharapova in 2007.
With her 30th win of the season (30-8), Gauff improves to 20-4 lifetime at Roland-Garros. She will face either three-time champion Iga Swiatek or Marketa Vondrousova in the semi-finals.
