Takeaways: Gauff reaches first Indian Wells semifinal

American Coco Gauff will compete in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open after defeating China’s Yuan Yue in Thursday’s quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-3.

The No.3 seed, who turned 20 years old on Wednesday, needed 94 minutes to defeat the 25-year-old Yuan in their first career meeting and better her previous best showing in the California desert by at least one round. In her first two appearances at the WTA 1000 event, she reached the third round, and last year, she reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual runner-up Aryna Sabalenka.

In the semifinals, Gauff will face the winner of Friday night’s match between No.9 seed and 2022 Indian Wells runner-up Maria Sakkari of Greece and her compatriot, No.23 seed Emma Navarro.

Read on for more takeaways from Gauff’s win, which made her the youngest American woman to reach the semifinals at Indian Wells since Serena Williams in 2001.

Coco cools off Yuan despite service woes: World No.49 Yuan had come into the quarterfinal match a winner of her last nine matches, which included her first career Hologic WTA Tour title in Austin prior to Indian Wells, and upsets against Australian Open finalist Zheng Qinwen and Daria Kasatkina en route.

The match that ended her streak was not as straightforward as it seemed on the scoreboard, as Gauff double-faulted a season-high 17 times in 10 service games. That led to 10 break points against her — but she faced the adversity with aplomb, saving seven. She also broke Yuan’s serve five times.

Another come-from-behind win: In her first two matches against Clara Burel and Lucia Bronzetti, Gauff faced deficits — and she also needed to navigate being behind on the scoreboard at a point in time against Yuan. After winning the first set, Gauff trailed 3-1 in the second set, and faced three break points in a crucial fifth game that would’ve seen her trail 4-1.

But at that juncture, Gauff navigated through a four-deuce service game to stem the tide of Yuan’s momentum, and never lost another game in the match.

More WTA 1000 success: Gauff has now reached the semifinals or better in five of the tour’s WTA 1000 events, having previously done so at Dubai, Beijing, Rome and Cincinnati — the latter of which she won last summer.

Gauff is only the third player to reach five WTA 1000 semifinals before turning 21, along with Caroline Wozniacki (eight) and Iga Swiatek (five) since the format’s introduction in 2009.