Gauff marches past Andreeva into Italian Open semis

Coco Gauff defeated Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva in straight sets to march into the semi-finals of the Italian Open.

Gauff, who breezed past Britain’s Emma Raducanu on Monday, continued her impressive run on clay with a 6-4 7-6 (7-5) victory against seventh seed Andreeva.

The 21-year-old American is now guaranteed to become the new number two in the world rankings, overtaking Iga Swiatek.

Gauff will face top seed Aryna Sabalenka, who beat her in the final of the Madrid Open this month, or China’s Zheng Qinwen in the last four.

Former French Open finalist Gauff has hit a rich vein of form on clay, winning nine of her past 10 matches.

“A lot of confidence heading into the semi-finals. I think today some points weren’t played at my best, but I still managed to be successful,” said Gauff, who has reached the semi-finals in Madrid for the third time.

Andreeva let her frustrations boil over at 3-3 in the opening set, hurling her racquet to the floor and waving angrily at her team after sending a forehand into the net.

The 18-year-old recovered to break back immediately as Gauff opened up a 5-3 lead, but she was unable to hold serve again as her opponent wrapped up the set.

She looked in danger of letting the match slip away at the start of the second, dropping serve before regaining her focus to fight back and force a tie-break.