Reluctant track and field star Coco Gauff picks her 100m dash rivals: “I would be curious to test it!”

WATCH: Who does Coco Gauff think could beat her in a 100m race? | Cincinnati

Renowned tennis coach Rick Macci once described Coco Gauff as “a track star that has a tennis racquet in her hand”—but who on the Hologic WTA Tour could take her in the 100 meter dash?

That was one of the questions posed to Gauff after she raced into the Western & Southern Open semifinals without dropping a set. After her 6-3, 6-2 victory over Jasmine Paolini on Friday, the No. 7 seed reminisced about her days as a budding track and field star while she highlighted her speediest rivals.

“I think Alycia Parks, she's pretty quick, has a good stride. And Iga [Swiatek] is pretty quick, too. I think those two would give me a run,” Gauff told press in Cincinnati (video above).

“I would be curious to test it, to be honest! I do feel like I am the fastest mover, to be honest. I'd be really interested.”

Fleet-footed Gauff gets her track and field prowess from mom Candi, who once competed in that discipline for Florida State University, while dad Corey played college basketball at Georgia State University. The American was exposed to a variety of sports growing up, playing basketball and running on the track team before finding her passion in tennis.

“The 400 is really my race. I did run track,” Gauff explained. “I guess in tennis terms, I think the hundred would be good for me. But against any other athlete, I need the 400 to even have the chance.”

In one hilarious anecdote, Gauff recalled being drafted to run the 800 meter races “because nobody wanted to run the 800”. Plus, she says, she was too busy playing tennis to attend the track and field team’s practices and therefore couldn’t be too picky.

“I would really crush people off of beating them in the 400,” she grinned. “And everybody said I should run 400. I was like, I'm not going to take one of my teammates' spots… This is actually their life, and it’s just something I'm doing for fun. So I was like, I'll just stick to the 800!”

While Gauff has sprinted into the Cincy semifinals, she will have to pace herself against her next opponent, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. The 19-year-old has yet to take a set off her in seven matches, with their most recent meeting ending in a 6-4, 6-2 defeat in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.