Ranking boost and a semifinal spot: Coco Gauff shows Mirra Andreeva the Madrid Exit

Coco Gauff defeats Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-0 and advances to the Madrid Open semifinals. The Russian teenager squandered a couple of set points in the first set, which gave momentum to the American. Gauff never relinquished control of the match from that point, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament for the first time.

Gauff is now guaranteed to reclaim the world No. 3 ranking, displacing her compatriot Jessica Pegula, who fell early in the Round of 32 in Madrid. The 21-year-old star extends her head-to-head record against Andreeva to 3-0 and took her 25th victory against top-10 players

Mirra Andreeva came out with a clear plan: to target Gauff's forehand and prevent the American from dominating rallies from her backhand. On the American's side, she constantly looked for winners from the baseline and didn't seem too inclined to play overly long points against Andreeva.

Andreeva secured the first break early on, but Gauff fought back to break in a long game after five break points in her favor, leveling the score. The Russian's drop shots got her out of trouble several times, as she struggled more with her serve than the American.

It seemed Andreeva would take the set when she secured a break and served at 5-4, 40-15. However, the world No. 4 rallied, winning four consecutive points to break back and extend the set. Andreeva's morale noticeably dropped, and errors began to appear, while Gauff won 13 of the last 15 points of the set to take the lead 7-5 after two consecutive breaks.

The 21-year-old American seized the momentum and began to assert herself on serve, before securing a break that put her in a good position at 2-0, winning five consecutive games. Gauff took absolute control of the match, achieved two consecutive breaks, and won three consecutive service games to love to move ahead 5-0.

Perfect statistics for Gauff on serve, winning 100% of the points on both her first and second serves. She was also effective on the return, converting 3 out of 5 break point opportunities.

Although the 18-year-old Russian managed to get out of a 0-30 deficit to cut Gauff's run of games and partially embellish the result, the world No. 4 eventually prevailed on serve and finished with a convincing 7-5, 6-1 win.

In the semi-finals she will face her biggest threat: Iga Swiatek, who is coming off the back of a win over Madison Keys. The world No. 2 dominates the h2h by an incredible 11-3, although the last two duels were for Gauff in WTA Finals and United Cup. At the moment it is 5-0 in favour of the Pole on clay courts.