For almost two hours, Mirra Andreeva had Coco Gauff on the ropes. The American was frustrated, Andreeva was dictating the match, and she even had two match points to finish the job. Then she let it slip. Gauff survived. Andreeva folded. By the time the 19-year-old walked into her press conference after the 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-2 loss, the disappointment was written all over her face.

Asked what she was most proud of from her US Open run, Andreeva could only rub her eyes and sigh. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Maybe in a couple of days, but now it’s hard.”

That moment said more than the numbers ever could.

Andreeva started like she was finally ready to crack the Gauff code, taking the ball early and pushing the American onto the back foot to win the opening set 6-2.

But finishing Gauff off was another matter. Andreeva had two match points in the second-set tiebreak, only to watch Gauff force a decider and pull away 6-2. Asked what made the difference, Andreeva’s answer was simple.

“I think she’s just more patient than me. I’m the one that’s trying to rush and make more mistakes than her,” Andreeva admitted. “I saw that she was nervous in the beginning, so I just tried to use it into my side.”

That assessment matched how the match unfolded. Andreeva pressured Gauff early, but once the American settled, she extended rallies, made fewer mistakes and forced Andreeva to take more risks. As those errors increased, so did the frustration.

It eventually boiled over in the deciding set when Andreeva threw her racket during the changeover, narrowly missing a nearby cameraman.

And it was hardly the first time her frustration had become visible on court. At Indian Wells in 2025, after dropping the opening set 2-6 to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final, the then-17-year-old grabbed a ball and angrily smacked it toward the stands. This time, however, she managed to reset, winning the second set 6-4 before breaking Sabalenka to love at the start of the decider and completing a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 comeback.

The victory made Andreeva the youngest Indian Wells champion since Serena Williams in 1999, while she later admitted she had been “super nervous” and joked that she had acted like “a little brat” with coach Conchita Martinez before the match.

Gauff, however, did not pile onto her opponent afterward. “I may probably have done the same if I was in her position,” she said, adding that she had shown more frustration than Andreeva early in the match.

It was a small gesture of empathy after a brutal defeat.

Coco Gauff reveals the unlikely source behind her comeback

For Gauff, the comeback was not just about changing tactics. At one of her lowest points, she thought about fellow American Frances Tiafoe, who had battled back from two sets down against Alex Michelsen a day earlier.

“In the restroom, I will be honest, I was thinking about Frances Tiafoe and how he came back yesterday,” Gauff said.

That gave her something to hold onto even when Andreeva earned two match points. “Just believing is all I can do,” Gauff said afterward. “The game may not always show up, but I can control the belief in myself.”

That belief has now carried Gauff back to the US Open semifinals, where Elena Rybakina awaits. The two have split their previous meetings, with Rybakina winning their most recent clash at the Canadian Open.

“Elena is the new world number one, so it’s going to be a tough match,” Gauff acknowledged.

For Andreeva, the defeat will be harder to digest. She had Gauff under pressure and came within a point of the semifinals, but in the biggest moments, patience made the difference.

Gauff waited longer, missed less, and kept believing. This time, that was enough.