Gauff sails into French Open quarter-finals

French Open 2025

Dates: 25 May-8 June Venue: Roland Garros

Coverage: Live radio commentaries across 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website and app

World number two Coco Gauff continued her pursuit of a first French Open singles title with another impressive straight-sets victory to reach the quarter-finals.

The American, 21, dismantled Russian 20th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0 7-5 in Paris.

The opening set lasted 29 minutes, with Gauff dropping just five points across the first five games.

It is the fifth consecutive year 2022 runner-up Gauff has reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.

She will face a stern test in the next round when she takes on compatriot and Australian Open champion Madison Keys.

Seventh seed Keys beat fellow American Hailey Baptiste 6-3 7-5 to progress.

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva also progressed to the last eight in straight sets.

The sixth seed defeated Australian 17th seed Daria Kasatkina 6-3 7-5 and will play French wildcard Lois Boisson, who stunned world number three Jessica Pegula, next.

Gauff made a commanding start against Alexandrova but came under pressure as she served for the first set.

She had to withstand five break points in a sixth game lasting almost 10 minutes before she eventually converted her third set point.

Gauff was the first to face break points in a competitive second set but struck first against an improving opponent to lead 4-3.

Alexandrova, competing in the fourth round in Paris for the first time, offered resistance with an immediate response - but Gauff finished the stronger and sealed victory with a run of three straight games.

Gauff, described recently by compatriot s Tiafoe as 'Little Miss Mature', said: "Most people do say I'm mature. I feel like playing tennis forces you to grow up faster.

"When I was in school, I would always be the first one to class. I getting on the yellow for the behaviour chart once, and that was like the worst day of my life.

"I'm definitely someone that prides myself on being a good example."

Gauff claimed a fourth consecutive straight-set win at this year's tournament, as she became the youngest player to reach as many as five women's singles quarter-finals at a single major since Venus Williams at the 2001 US Open.

The 2023 US Open champion has lost three of her five meetings with opponent Keys, including their only match on clay in Madrid last year.

Keys ended her wait for a first major title at the Australian Open in January, having previously lost in the US Open final in 2017.

"I meeting Coco for the first time. She was so young and I knew that she was going to be pretty dominant pretty quickly," Keys, 30, said.

"Even to this day, I'm always so impressed by the way that she handles the pressure and all of it at such a young age.

"It's one of the things that I think she has done a phenomenal job at."

At 18, Andreeva is the youngest player to reach back-to-back women's singles quarter-finals at Roland Garros since Martina Hingis in 1998.

And she did so with victory against an opponent she itted she does not like to practise with, let alone face for a place in a major quarter-final.

Andreeva edged a close first set with an assured service game after she broke Kasatkina's serve in the eighth game.

She then battled back impressively from 5-3 down in the second set, winning four straight games to close out the match.

"It was a hell of a match," said Andreeva, who lost to Kasatkina in the Ningbo final last year in China.

"Honestly I'm so so happy I won, I hate playing against her.

"We practise a lot and even practice is a torture for me."