World No. 3 Coco Gauff was far from her free-flowing best in Saturday's semifinal at the China Open as an apparent shoulder injury hindered her progress.
Gauff refused to blame the injury as the catalyst for her downfall against Iga Swiatek. The World No. 2 played with searing pace and precision, committing just six unforced errors during the match to win 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 15 minutes of play.
Swiatek also simultaneously ended Gauff's 16-match unbeaten run to advance into Sunday's final where she will face Liudmila Samsonova. Speaking to the press after her succumbing to her first loss since the Canadian Open, Gauff confirmed that she played with shoulder pain.
In fact, the issue cropped up in her quarterfinal match against Maria Sakkari. But it blighted the sheer weight of her shots on Saturday, where Gauff needed to take a medical timeout and have the issue handled by a physio on the advice of her coaching team.
It was a rare occurrence for the 19-year-old, who stated it was a 'new experience' to have a physio tend to an injury on the court.
Although it helped, the match result was beyond her reach. Gauff understands that the injury is not so serious and will honor her schedule by playing in Zhengzhou next week.
"I’m not the type to call the physiotherapist. My coach recommended that I do it. It helped. But it’s really a new experience. I’m not used to playing with pain in general. From what I’ve been told, it’s not a terrible injury."
"With a little rest, I'll be fine. But yes, it’s hard to live in circumstances you’re not used to. I feel like when you feel pain, you mentally wonder if it’s serious."
The young American is the top seed at next week's WTA 500 stop in Zhengzhou. Gauff took a late wild card to play in the event, probably using it as a warm-up tournament to fine-tune her game for the prestigious WTA Finals. Before Beijing, she hadn't played since winning a maiden US Open in September.
"I’m very proud of myself. I think I still have a lot of things to improve. That’s what makes me excited for next year. After WTA Finals, I’ll have a few more weeks to train and improve. I notice that my game improves every time I take a two-week break to train."
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