Coco Goff continued his mastery over Russian Kishore Mirra Andreeva and returned to the Italian open semifinals with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win in Rome on Wednesday.
The fourth seeded American’s next rival will be China’s No. 8 Seed Kinwen Zheng, who excluded top seed Aryana Sabalenka from 6-4, 6-3.
Other semi-finals in the WTA 1000 Clay-Corte tournament will include the sixth seed Italian Jasmine Paolini and Unseed American Peeton Stern, who won their quarter-final matches on Tuesday.
21-year-old Goff improved 4–0 against 18-year-old Andreva and increased his career record 11–1 against him 11–1 against younger players.
“Honestly I don’t think so much about the head-to-head,” Goff said after winning his quarter-finals in 1 hour and 42 minutes. “Especially when you are playing a little, you know that they can improve so much in a short time.
“I mean, I think of my game that when I was of her age, it is very different. It is very different. At the same time when I go to court, I consider each match as a new match and hope that he would be better than being played for the last time.”
Gauf, who had crossed the 3–2 deficiency in the second set, became a three-time semi-finalist (2021, 2024) in the Italian capital since Martina Hingis in 1999.
The decisive tiebreak went back and forth, including a luxurious drop shot by Russian, which, before 5–5, sealed the fate of Andreeva by a couple.
“Finally, my defense, it was difficult,” Goff said. “Both of us were tight in the tiebreaker, it was one who could make the last ball. Today some points were not my best, but I still managed to succeed.”
22 -year -old Zheng arrived in Rome for the first time after exiting the quarter -finals in 2023 and 2024. He hit four aces and won 82 percent of his first-Service points (28 out of 34) in a 97-minute win over World No. 1 Sabalenka.
Zheng saved all five brake points and replaced three of his 10 brake opportunities, including decisive games at his second match point.
At the beginning of the second set, Sabalenka was best when he shouted an audience to warn from the umpire of the chair for a audible obscenity.
Zheng defeated Sabalenka for the first time in seven meetings.
-Bield level media
