Coco Gauff won her ninth consecutive match to reach the semi-finals of the 2024 Wuhan Open, this time beating Magda Linette.
The American player started a winning streak at the China Open in Beijing, which carried her all the way to winning the trophy in Beijing. At that tournament, however, she had to play two three-set matches, and in one, Naomi Osaka retired before the third set.
It was anything but smooth sailing, but Gauff fought, and she was rewarded for her efforts by winning the title. In Wuhan, the story has been much, much different so far, as the youngster has dominated everyone who has stood on the tennis court with her.
She destroyed Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 6-2 in the second round. Then, she dominated against Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-1, and in the quarter-final, Magda Linette also didn't stand a chance against the 2023 US Open champion.
In her match against Kostyuk, Gauff's serving stood out as it carried her to victory. This time, she didn't serve anywhere as well, hitting four doubles faults just in the opening set. Still, she won 82% of the points after her first serve, and she really needed it.
The reason was simple: She faced break points in two of her three service games. The American had to save four break points, but she did, and she could focus on troubling her opponent on the return.
Gauff is a player who breaks her opponents' serve the most on the WTA Tour, and she improved that statistic in this match. She broke in every Linette's service game in the first set, as the Pole player won only 27% of points after her first serve.
It was another dominant performance from the 20-year-old, who won the first set 6-0 in only 31 minutes. Gauff hit another four double faults in the second set, but this time, she didn't have to save so many break points.
She broke her opponent's serve in the seventh game to lead 4-3, and when Linette was serving to stay in the match at 5-3 for the American, Gauff had three match points to close out the match.
She couldn't, and in the following game, when she was trying to serve out the match, Gauff had to face the only break point she faced in the second set. She saved it, and so she could win the match 6-0, 6-4, to reach the semi-finals of the 2024 Wuhan Open.
Her next opponent will be the winner of the match between the first-seeded Aryna Sabalenka and another Polish player left in the draw, Magdalena Frech.
Following her win, Gauff was obviously delighted with her performance, especially in the first set. One thing she wasn't happy about was not using her match points in the ninth game of the second set, which could have cost her dearly.
"Yeah, I'm really happy with how I played. Obviously, a smooth first set. I had chances to maybe close it out in the 5-3 game in the second, but I'm happy I was able to close it out on my serve."
Although Gauff certainly focuses on her tournament at the moment, she, like everyone in the tennis world, saw the news of Rafael Nadal's retirement from the sport, and the 20-year-old explained how the Spaniard inspired her.
"Obviously, I'm a fan of him. I know we're technically like coworkers, but I'm a fan. I'm a fan of him. How he treated me as a fan is something I remember more than his wins, more than the thing he did."
"I would like my legacy to look like that. You can win the amount of trophies and everything, but people remember who you are and how you made them feel. That's how I try to remind myself when I'm doing fan interactions or with anybody, to leave a nice impression because I know how that goes a long way."