Spirited Coco Gauff outlasts Zheng in the semifinal to clash vs Paolini at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. HIGHLIGHTS – ROME RESULTS

Cori Gauff survives Qinwen Zheng 7-6(3) 4-6 7-6(4) in the semifinal in Rome on Thursday after conquering a huge battle. Gauff will square off with Jasmine Paolini in the final. The epic lasted 3 hours and 32 minutes. This will be her best result in this competition. In the past, the best she could do was reaching the semifinal in 2021 and 2024. Here you can see her history at this event.

The American added to her prize money € 216,355 after conquering this match. She has already won € 456,735 after this win. If she wins the next match, Gauff will add € 420,655 to her earnings to get in total € 877,390 in total.

Highlights Cori Gauff vs. Qinwen Zheng Internazionali BNL d’Italia – Rome

Stats: aces, double faults, breaks, winners

At the end of the match, Gauff scored 135 points vs. the Chinese’s 121.

Gauff

Coco was effective when converting 53% of the break points that she conquered (9/17).

Zheng

On the other side, Zheng had a tough time converting her break points (only 37% – 10/27). That was one of the key issues for her loss.

After this contest, the head to head between Gauff and Zheng is 3-0 for Coco.

Draw and next match H2H: Cori Gauff vs. Jasmine Paolini – stats

Gauff will take on Paolini

in the final.

This will be the 4^th time that Cori Gauff and Jasmine Paolini square off. The head to head is 2-1 for Gauff (see full H2H stats), but Paolini has a winning record of 1-0 on clay.

The last time that they locked horns, Paolini won 6-4 6-3 in the quarter in Stuttgart back in April 2025.

Live score progression and stats

Gauff conquered a commanding position in the outset to break Qinwen Zheng in the 2^nd game (2-0). However, the set was not over yet and there was more work to do for Gauff to win the set because the Chinese succeeded in breaking back in the 3^rd (1-2), in the 5^th (3-2), in the 9^th (4-5) and in the 11^th (6-5) game. The American kept her cool to break Zheng in the 6^th (3-3), in the 8^th (5-3) and in the 12^th (6-6) game before conquering the set (7-6).

The American failed to serve out the set when leading 5-3 to be broken at 40.

Coco converted 57% of her break points (4/7). She had 7 break points opportunities in the 2^nd (1-0 0-40, 15-40, 30-40 and 40-A), the 6^th (2-3 0-40), the 8^th (4-3 15-40) and the 12^th game (5-6 15-40). Moreover, on the other side, Qinwen converted 33% of her break points (4/12). She had her opportunities in the 3^rd (0-2 40-A), the 5^th (2-2 0-40, 15-40, 30-40, 40-A and 40-A), the 7^th (3-3 15-40 and 30-40), the 9^th (3-5 30-40, 40-A and 40-A) and the 11^th game (5-5 30-40).

They contested 105 points. The set was a huge battle since finally the American won just 3 more points than Qinwen (54-51). Gauff conceded 34 points on serve (32-34). on the other side of the net, the Chinese conceded 22 points on serve (17-22).

Gauff started the set in the best possible way after breaking Qinwen Zheng in the 2^nd game (2-0) before consolidating her break and lead 3-0. However, there was more to do for Qinwen to win the set because Gauff found the way to break back in the 7^th (3-4) and in the 9^th (4-5) game. The Chinese maintained her cool to break Coco in the 8^th (5-3) and in the 10^th (6-4) game.

Zheng failed to serve out the set when leading 6-4 to be broken at 15.

Qinwen was on the money in converting all her break points in the 1^st (0-0 0-40, 15-40 and 30-40), the 8^th (4-3 40-A and 40-A) and the 10^th game (5-4 30-40). Furthermore, on the other side, Coco was on the money in converting all her break points in the 7^th (2-4 0-40), the 9^th (3-5 15-40 and 30-40) and the 11^th game (3-6 15-40).

They contested 60 points. It’s worth to point out that, Zheng won this set even if she scored less points 6 than Coco (27-33). Zheng conceded 17 points on serve (12-17). on the other side of the court, Gauff conceded 15 points on serve (16-15).

The American won the set after she broke the Chinese in the 5^th (3-2) and in the 9^th (4-5) game. Qinwen tried to stage a comeback breaking in the 6^th (3-3) and in the 8^th (3-5) game. However, the American kept the focus to eventually clinch the set at the following tiebreak at 4.

Tiebreak

The American won 4 minibreaks in the 3^rd (1-2), 4^th (2-2), 8^th (5-3) and 11^th (7-4) point. On the other side, Zheng won 3 minibreaks in the 1^st (1-0), 2^nd (2-0) and 9^th (4-5) point.

This was the tiebreak sequence: 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 4-2, 4-3, 5-3, 5-4, 6-4, 7-4

The American converted 33% of her break points (2/6). She had 6 break points opportunities in the 2^nd (1-1 15-40, 30-40 and 40-A), the 5^th (2-2 0-40), the 6^th (3-3 30-40) and the 8^th game (3-5 30-40). Furthermore, on the other side, the Chinese converted 22% of her break points (2/9). She had her opportunities in the 1^st (0-0 40-A, 40-A, 40-A and 40-A), the 4^th (2-1 30-40 and 40-A), the 6^th (2-3 15-40) and the 8^th game (4-3 0-40 and 15-40).

They contested 91 points. The set was a huge battle since finally Coco won just 3 points more than Zheng (47-44). The American surrendered 24 points on serve (27-24). Regarding the other side of the net, Zheng conceded 20 points on serve (20-20).

Tennis Scores in Rome

• Cori GauffGauff – Qinwen ZhengZheng (7-6³ 4-6 7-6⁴)
• Jasmine PaoliniPaolini – Peyton StearnsStearns (7-5 6-1)

Upcoming matches

• Cori GauffGauff – Jasmine PaoliniPaolini (2-1) – H2H details and stats