At this point, Mirra Andreeva walking onto a tennis court without smashing a racket almost feels like the bigger surprise. The Russian teenager had two match points to finally beat Coco Gauff in a US Open quarterfinal, but once those chances disappeared, so did her composure. By the third set, the frustration spilled over again, with Andreeva launching her racket toward the bench before later being forced to explain yet another emotional blowup.
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“Yeah, that’s true. I think every emotion that you show, your opponent is aware of something. But at that point, I felt like I was holding my emotions for too long, not reacting to a lot of points in the first set and in the second set as well, after having many points and losing the set,” Andreeva said in her press conference.
“But then, at one point, I just felt like I needed to let it out. And when I let those emotions out, I don’t really think about whether I’m showing anything to my opponent. At that point, I didn’t think about it either.”
After missing two match points in the second-set tiebreak, including one on her own serve, Andreeva needed a strong start to the decider. She opened with a hold to 15, but Gauff broke her in her next service game to take a 2-1 lead, prompting Andreeva to throw her racket toward her chair during the changeover.
That was a far cry from how the match had started for her.
The start to her maiden US Open quarterfinal could hardly have gone better for Andreeva, who raced to a 4-0 lead before taking the opening set 6-2. Gauff looked out of rhythm on serve and from the baseline, committing fourteen unforced errors compared with just five from the Russian.
The second set, however, became much more competitive as both players struggled to maintain consistency. Gauff finished the set with 26 unforced errors and Andreeva with 23, while both players were broken twice. Even after falling behind 3-5, Andreeva worked her way back into the set and forced a tiebreak.
She had to fight from behind there as well, recovering from 3-5 to earn a match point at 6-5. Another opportunity followed at 7-6, this time on her own serve, but she could not convert either chance.
From there, the momentum gradually moved in Gauff’s direction. The American settled down in the deciding set, reducing her unforced-error count to just five, while Andreeva committed fourteen. Gauff also managed to clean up her serve after struggling with twelve double faults across the match, going through the entire third set without one.
Andreeva, meanwhile, found it increasingly difficult to put pressure on Gauff’s serve and did not create a break-point opportunity in the final set. Gauff took advantage, breaking twice before closing out the decider 6-2.
As the match began to slip away, Andreeva’s frustration also became more visible. During the changeover, she threw her racket toward her bench, where it bounced off the other rackets and came close to a nearby cameraman. The moment reflected just how quickly the match had turned after she had been within a point of victory.
It was not the first time Andreeva had shown similar frustration against Gauff this season. At the Italian Open, Andreeva became visibly frustrated as Gauff took control of the second set, with the Russian committing 11 unforced errors. In the decider, Gauff moved 5-1 ahead before Andreeva fought back to 5-4, but the American eventually closed out the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The pattern was familiar. Andreeva started strong, Gauff settled in, and the Russian’s errors began to pile up. The difference in New York was how painfully close Andreeva came to finally changing the outcome.
That frustration has surfaced against other opponents too. At Indian Wells in March, Andreeva threw her racket after losing the second-set tiebreak against Katerina Siniakova before smashing it several times, which earned her a code violation. She threw it again after match point and exchanged words with the crowd while leaving the court, later admitting that she was “not really proud” of how she handled the situation.
Instead, Gauff saved two match points and advanced to the semifinals, where she will face Elena Rybakina. The Kazakh enters the matchup as the new World No.1 following her quarterfinal victory.