Blunder fest as Gauff downs Keys to reach last four in Paris

PARIS - Coco Gauff huffed and puffed into the French Open semi-finals with a 6-7(6) 6-4 6-1 victory against fellow American Madison Keys in a match both players will be quick to forget as they broke the 100-unforced errors barrier on Wednesday.

More than half of Gauffs points came from Australian Open champion Keys soft mistakes and the world number two got away with a total of 10 double faults.

The 21-year-old will need to make dramatic adjustments when she faces either Frances Lois Boisson or Russian sixth seed Mirra Andreeva for a place in Sundays final.

Keys, who was looking to reach the last four at Roland Garros for the second time after 2018, bowed out with her 60th unforced error to end a forgettable contest.

Im happy to get through this match today, I have a lot more work to do, Ill be ready tomorrow, Gauff said.

I changed something at 4-1 (in the first set). Its tough to play against her because she hits the ball so fast, so low, I was just trying to fight for every point... to get the ball to the other side of the net.

Gauff, who reached the final here in 2022, is the youngest woman to claim 25 main-draw wins at Roland Garros since Martina Hingis (1995-2000).

The opening set was a scrappy affair, with the first three games going against serve.

Keys secured the first hold to lead 3-1 and broke again before Gauff clawed back a break and held for the first time to close the gap to 4-3.

In a flurry of breaks, Gauff levelled at 4-4 and held once more to edge ahead, putting the pressure on Keys, who saved a set point to force a tiebreak.

While the quality was patchy at best, the drama