Tommy Paul in 1st clay semi Swiatek keeps dirt double alive

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Tommy Paul has produced the biggest clay-court result of his career at the Italian Open, while top-ranked Iga Swiatek defeated Coco Gauff to keep her hopes of a "dirt double" going into the women's final.

Paul outlasted ninth-ranked Hubert Hurkacz 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday to earn a spot in the semifinals at the Foro Italico, following up on a straight-sets victory over defending champion Daniil Medvedev.

The American broke the big-serving Hurkacz seven times but dropped his own serve six times.

"My game plan coming in was, I got to get in as many of his service games as possible and try and get a couple of breaks. So on that aspect, I did very, very well today," said Paul, who won the French Open boys' title in 2015. "But my next match, I'm probably going to focus on holding serve a little bit more."

Before beating Medvedev, Paul had never defeated a top-20 player on clay. Now he has defeated two top-10 players back-to-back for the first time in his career on any surface.

In the semifinals Friday, the 16th-ranked Paul will face either Monte Carlo Masters champion Stefanos Tsitsipas or Nicolas Jarry, who were playing their quarterfinal later. The other semifinal match will feature 2017 Rome champion Alexander Zverev against Alejandro Tabilo, who eliminated top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the third round.

Swiatek extended her winning streak to 11 matches with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over US Open champion Gauff. Swiatek, who is attempting to win the Madrid Open and Italian Open back-to-back, will face either second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka or Danielle Collins in the final. She could become only the third player in history to win the Madrid-Rome double after Dinara Safina in 2009 and Serena Williams in 2013.

"I'm happy to be playing so consistently because it means that we're doing everything well," Swiatek said. "So really proud of myself and of the team as well."

Gauff, 20, took an early 2-0 lead by breaking Swiatek's first service game, but Swiatek broke right back, then again to take a 5-4 lead before holding to take the first set with a clinical backhand winner. The second set was on serve until Swiatek broke Gauff to lead 3-2 and eventually booked her spot in the final, where she will bid for a third Italian Open title in four years.

Paul is attempting to become the first American man to reach the Rome final since Andre Agassi won the trophy in 2002. Together with Gauff and Collins, there were three American semifinalists.

Rome is the last big warmup tournament before the French Open starts in 10 days. Paul has never been past the second round at Roland Garros.

Paul was better on the longer rallies than Hurkacz and twice came back from a break down in the deciding set.

Hurkacz eliminated record 10-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal in the second round.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.