Coco Gauff overcomes Jessica Pegula scare in an all-American tie to complete Grand Slam semifinal set at Wimbledon 2026

Coco Gauff completed a Grand Slam semifinal set after the American overcame a Jessica Pegula scare on Tuesday at Wimbledon 2026. In the process, the 22-year-old became the youngest to reach the semifinals of all four tennis Grand Slams since Maria Sharapova.

Playing in her first quarterfinal at Wimbledon, Gauff dug deep to fight back from a set down to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Centre Court.

Before this match, Gauff's best show has been fourth round finishes in 2019, 2021 and 2024. The two-time Grand Slam champion, Gauff, will either face Naomi Osaka or Karolina Muchova in her first major semifinal since her French Open triumph last year. Gauff is also yet to win the US Open.

Russian Sharapova was 20 years old when she completed the set of Grand Slam semifinal appearances at the 2007 French Open. Gauff had reached the semifinals of the other three Grand Slams by the age of 19. In her previous three appearances at Wimbledon, Gauff exited in the first round on twice.

Gauff has previously struggled to find her best form on grass, despite knocking out Venus Williams en route to the last 16 on her major debut at Wimbledon in 2019 when aged 15.

Fourth seed Pegula will be left to wonder what might have been as another opportunity for a first Grand Slam title passed her by. The closest the 32-year-old has come to breaking her duck remains her 2024 US Open final loss to Aryna Sabalenka.

What happened in Coco Gauff vs Jessica Pegula?

Pegula broke in the first game of the match to take control of the opening set, closing it out in the 10th game with a confident service hold. Gauff, as in her last-16 win over Belinda Bencic, battled back, though, and saved three break points in the second set to stay afloat.

She moved 5-3 in front as Pegula faltered, then reeled off three straight points from 15-30 down to force a decider. Gauff was broken as Pegula levelled the third at 3-3, but then reeled off three straight games to race to the finish line in a match that went for an hour and 48 minutes.

The victory also helped Gauff become the seventh active player to reach the semifinals of all four Grand Slams. Gauff joined the likes of Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Karolina Pliskova, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek.

Coco Gauff admits first set errors

Speaking after the match, Gauff admitted that she made too many errors in the first set. "Just trusting my shots, I think I made a bit too many errors in the first set, rushing the rallies a little bit," said Gauff, after winning a fourth consecutive three-set tie at the All England Club this fortnight.

"I've been going three sets nearly every match, so I think when you have that faith as a competitor, you don't panic when you go a set down. After seven years playing this tournament, I think it's the first time I was able to walk on Centre Court without any nerves, so I don't know if I'm becoming a vet.

"Considering I hadn't won a match in two years on grass before this tournament, I'm really happy with how I played today," she added.

With agency inputs