Gauff and Teichmann advance to Adelaide semi-finals

Coco Gauff and Jil Teichmann advanced to the Adelaide International semi-finals after 3-set wins on the Memorial Drive hard courts on Thursday.

It was a rollercoaster and what I felt was nerves. It was a very tense match, very long rallies every time. Anastasija is a tough player and you have to play every point and every game, doesn’t matter if you’re serving or returning.

Teichmann clawed her way to a marathon victory over Latvian veteran Anastasija Sevastova, winning 6-4 6-7(10) 7-5, and was later joined by Gauff, who also had a fighting battle with fellow American Shelby Rogers and had to recover from a patchy start to win, 2-6 6-4 6-4.

Teichmann had 5 match points in the second-set tiebreak but was unable to close it out. and the 23-year-old Swiss was then forced to save 2 match points while trailing 5-4 in the third.

“It was a rollercoaster and what I felt was nerves,” Teichmann said. “It was a very tense match, very long rallies every time.

“Anastasija is a tough player and you have to play every point and every game, doesn’t matter if you’re serving or returning.”

Teichmann levelled at 5-5 before breaking Sevastova’s serve and finally secured the rollercoaster victory on her 7th match point, taking just under 3 hours.

The World No 61 led 6-3 in the tiebreak but she could not shake off her opponent, who squared it at 6-6.

The young Swiss had a further 2 chances, netting her 5th match point, while Sevastova, the World No 56 made no mistake with her first opportunity to push the match into a deciding set.

Teichmann looked down and out early in the third, trailing 3-0, but she showed bravery to keep going for her shots, with her booming forehand doing most of the damage.

The Swiss awaits the outcome of the evening session match between Danielle Collins and Iga Swiatek to discover who her semi-final opponent will be.

Coco Gauff came back from a set and 2-4 down against Shelby Rogers to secure her slot in the semi-finals

Unlikely comebacks are familiar territory for Gauff, who has shown a precocious ability in her young career to adjust tactically and cling on mentally after getting initially outgunned.

The 16-year-old qualifier recovered from 2-6, 2-4 down, as well as trailing 2-4 in the final set, to defeat Rogers in an hour and 50 minutes.

Of Gauff’s 38 victories in WTA main draw and qualifying matches, 14 have been 3-setters, and 10 of those have been comebacks after losing the first set.

Gauff has won 5 straight matches, including 2 in qualifying in Adelaide, since her second-round loss to 5th-seeded Elina Svitolina at the Australian Open.

She and Rogers had an extended rally in the 9th game of the 3rd set, which Gauff won after setting up game point with an incredible cross-court return.

Gauff plays either Belinda Bencic or Storm Sanders in the semis, the last match of the day.