Coco Gauff defeated Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach her first Wimbledon semifinal. She will face Karolina Muchova, who eliminated Naomi Osaka 7-6(2), 6-4 in the other quarterfinal. [1] No player seeded 1, 2, or 3 remains in the women's draw.

When this paper reported Osaka's 6-2, 7-6(2) win over top-ranked Sabalenka on Monday, it noted that the draw was structurally open between Osaka, Gauff, and Muchova, with no clear favorite remaining. Today's development completes that picture: Osaka is also out. Rybakina lost to Mertens in the third round. Sabalenka fell to Osaka in the quarterfinals. The three women who began Wimbledon at the top of the seeding order are watching the semifinal from home.

Gauff's performance deserves a clear account before the bracket context arrives. She won the first set 4-6, lost it, and came back to take the second and third 6-3, 6-3 against a player — Pegula — who had beaten her in their previous grass-court meeting and who is herself seeded No. 4. [1] The comeback is real. The grass-court conversion that tennis analysts have been discussing since Roland-Garros is real enough to survive one of the stronger results on this surface. Gauff and Pegula became the first two American women in a Wimbledon quarterfinal together since Serena Williams defeated Venus in the 2009 final.

At the achievement level: Gauff is now the first woman to reach all four Grand Slam semifinals before turning 23 since Maria Sharapova in 2007. That is a rare and meaningful distinction. [1]

At the bracket level: the semis feature Gauff and Muchova — both first-time Wimbledon semifinalists — on one side of a draw that lost its three highest seeds before the final four. [2] Whether a Wimbledon title won from this position is worth less than one won through a fully competitive bracket is a question the trophy does not answer. It is still a Wimbledon title. The reader deserves to know the shape of the path. [3]

Gauff leads her head-to-head with Muchova 6-1. Muchova, however, won their most recent meeting — in Stuttgart earlier this year. The semifinal is Thursday.

-- CHARLES ASHFORD, London