Gauff completes Pegula comeback to reach first Wimbledon semifinal

Coco Gauff is making three-set wins at Wimbledon a habit this year -- and her latest, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 comeback against good friend and fellow American Jessica Pegula, earned her a spot in the semifinals at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament for the first time. 

The 1 hour and 48-minute victory made the two-time major champion the seventh active player to reach the semifinals or better at all four Grand Slam tournaments in her career, joining Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Karolina Pliskova, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek. She was followed in the achievement a short while later by Karolina Muchova, who will be her semifinal opponent.

Gauff, who has now played four consecutive three setters in five rounds, called the run at the All England Club "pretty insane." She entered Wimbledon on a four-match losing streak on the surface, and also came from a set down to beat Belinda Bencic in the Round of 16. But she'll be the favorite on paper to reach her fourth career Grand Slam singles final when she faces No. 10 seed Muchova next, as Gauff will take a 6-1 head-to-head record against the Czech into their first grass-court meeting.

"Considering I hadn't won a match on grass in two years before this tournament ... I'm definitely just really happy with how I played today," she said. "Jess is an incredible opponent and person, playing against her is never easy. I'm just happy to get through this one today." 

Gauff rebounds from slow start

Pegula entered the match a favorite on paper, and not just because of her 13-6 grass-court record over the last two years. She was 5-3 previously against Gauff, and won their only prior grass-court meeting in straight sets. 

She started with a break of Gauff's serve from 40-0 behind in the opening game, and broke again at love at 3-3 on her way to claiming the opening set. But from there, Pegula spent the rest of the match playing catch-up. She lost the last three games of the second set, and outside of holding serve to begin the decider, never pulled back ahead on the scoreboard.

"I felt like in the first set I was maybe rushing out of some points too early, either trying to either get out of the rally or overhit too much," Gauff said. "Towards the end, I just really honed in on my game and realized I don't have to play a spectacular point every time to win, even though there were some spectacular points.

"I think just trusting myself, trusting that my groundstrokes are good enough to be with anyone on this surface. I think my last match against Belinda showed that. Obviously today against Jess I think showed that, as well."

Pegula left to wonder what could've been

Pegula entered the final eight as the highest-ranked player remaining in the women's draw. But she leaves likely ruing missed opportunities. 

She had two break points in Gauff's first service game of the second set, another at 1-1, and one more still ahead 1-0 in the decider. She also had 0-30 at 3-3 in set two, and three more 15-30 opportunities across Gauff's remaining service games.

Pegula credited Gauff for raising her level in the second half of the match, and catching a groove on their groundstroke rallies, but admitted there were "lots of things" she wished she would've done differently when ahead.

"Obviously in hindsight, it's always easier to say that," she said.

"I felt like there were some patterns that I didn't really stick to, now that I'm kind of like digesting," she added. "There's definitely probably some patterns I wish that I would have trusted a bit more. Then I don't think I served my best. I thought I served OK, but I think she served a little bit better. There are just some things I wish I did differently on my serve."

"I think maybe I was overthinking it a little bit and should have just trusted what I thought I should have done," she continued. "Instead, I was getting caught and allowing her to get more freedom on her serve.

"From the ground, I always play flat. That doesn't really change much. I think that's why sometimes I can give her a lot of trouble. I think maybe at the end I should have maybe changed up the pace and sliced a bit more, because I felt like she got onto the pace a bit and started playing much better. Yeah, she was playing well at the end.

"I mean, there's just a couple things here and there, like, that you wish you could change, but it doesn't always mean that it's going to be a better outcome."

The 32-year-old drops to 3-7 in her career in Grand Slam quarterfinals.