A thrilling match ended in a one-set tie in Beijing after Naomi Osaka withdrew from the competition, allowing her opponent Coco Gauff on to the China Open quarter-finals.
During the match, Osaka took the lead of a set and a break, but Gauff then rallied to tie the match with a performance record of 3-6, 6-4. However, Osaka was unable to continue the tiebreaker match, and Gauff helped her carry her bags off the court. Osaka has brought a medic on the court after the fifth game, seemingly having a problem with her back. However, despite her injury troubling her during the match, she continued to pressure Gauff, who also had her chances of executing exceptional plays.
Because of Osaka’s exit, Gauff advanced to the final eight for the second year in a row. She will battle against the Ukrainian qualifier, Yuliia Starodubtseva. The winner will face either Shuai Zhang or Paula Badosa in the semi-finals.
Zhang defeated Magdalena Frech 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the final eight, while Badosa won against Jessica Pegula, the runner-up from the US Open, with a score of 6-4, 6-0.
Advancing to the quarter-finals, Gauff said: “It was a good match up until this point. I wish Naomi a speedy recovery, nobody wants to win a match like this, especially at one set all… I tried my best, it wasn’t my best tennis. It was one of those matches where you are trying your best each point.”
She added: “It’s cool to be back in the quarter-finals here in Beijing. I’ve been playing the late match every day, so maybe I’ll get sunshine in the next match. We’ll see what the schedule allows.”
In the China Open finals, American tennis player Coco Gauff defeated Karolina Muchová 6-1, 6-3. With this victory, she became the first American to win the tournament after winning in straight sets, long since Serena Williams in 2013.
Moreover, Gauff became the first woman in WTA history to successfully win her first seven hard-court finals since the beginning of the Open era.
Acknowledging her match opponent, the athlete said: “I want to say congratulations to you Karolina. It’s great to see you back on tour. I think you’re such an amazing player and you deserve everything.”
In a social media post, Gauff said: “I’m happy with the fight I showed during the past two weeks here in Beijing and very grateful to walk away with the @chinaopen title ❤️. Thank you for all of the love and support!”
In the finals, Gauff gave a strong performance and established her dominance in the court by ending the first set in thirty minutes. However, her opponent took a 2-0 lead in the second set due to Gauff’s serving problems, but she immediately responded to regain her control of the match.
This was her first title in nine months after bringing Matt Daly to her coaching staff. She will now compete at the Wuhan Open and will continue to rise in the rankings.
Coco Gauff defeated world No. 2 Iga Swiatek 6-3, 6-4 to secure her spot in the 2024 WTA Finals semi-finals.
After her win, Gauff said: “Despite our head-to-head, I had a lot of confidence going in… I felt like I was playing great tennis, and even when I was playing a bit sloppy, the games were still going to deuce.”
She added: “That gave me confidence and I knew that if I could just find my game, that I would have the chance to close out the match… The first set I think I had three straight games in a row with breakpoints, I did not let that discourage me. I knew I was going to get it eventually.”
Highlights of the match
Gauff and Swiatek exchanged the first two games in the first set.
In the third game the world No. 3 had the opportunity to break her opponent, but Swiatek fought back from a 40-30 disadvantage to hold.
When the set was tied at 3-3, Gauff held serve and then broke her opponent to take a 5-3 lead. The 2024 French Open winner took a 1-0 lead in the match.
Moreover, Gauff won the first game of the second set by holding service after saving two break points. After making it 1-1, Swiatek broke Gauff and took a 2-1 lead in the second set by taking advantage of a string of double-faults. However, Gauff countered with a break of her own to halt Swiatek’s momentum and tie the second set at 2-2.
In order to regain her lead, Swiatek held serve in the sixth and then broke. But Gauff held serve to move and bring the score back to level with another stunning break to secure her win.
In all of their 13 matches, Gauff only won twice against Swiatek.
Coco Gauff stunned world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka by defeating her in straight sets to get to the WTA World Tour Finals.
The American athlete faced world No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the group stages and went on to win her second unexpected victory of the event against Sabalenka, winning the match 7-6(4), 6-3 in an hour and fifty-one minutes.
Highlights of the game
Despite threatening Sabalenka in the Belarusian’s opening service game, Gauff failed to convert two break point attempts. She broke herself in the following game as the top seed imposed her own agenda on the match. As the first set hovered toward a tiebreak, Gauff retaliated exceptionally to equalize the scores.
Gauff dominated the breaker, earning all four of Sabalenka’s initial service points before ultimately completing her third set point after the two traded breaks at 5-5 and 6-5.
Gauff maintained her momentum and won the second set, leading 4-1 and up a double break. Sabalenka grabbed an eighth breakpoint to cut the lead in half. However, Gauff booked herself in the finals by making one last break.
With her win, Gauff declared: “I’m happy with the way I played… Playing against Aryna, she’s always going to be a tough match. I just tried to stay in it. She’s world No. 1 for a reason, and I’m happy with how I played today.”
She added: “A break in tennis means nothing, to be honest. People think too much about it. I just knew I needed to win a game to stay in the set, and I was lucky that I broke in that game.”
Gauff will now face Zheng Qinwen of China, who won against eighth seed Barbora Krejcikova in the other semi-final. Krejcikova defeated Gauff in the group stages.
Gauff said: “[Zheng] is playing great tennis. Just playing confident[ly] will help me give me the best shot at winning. I’m not nervous, to be honest. Winning is a plus, and even being here is a reward for the season that I had.
“I think [Zheng] likes the courts here. She’s tough. A really good server, a really good mover. We kind of have different game styles in a way. It’s going to be a tough match, but I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be curious to see the last time two people who are pretty young in the final,” she added.
NEW YORK- Coco Gauff, 19, has made it to the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the second year in a row after knocking out 2018 Australian Open champ Caroline Wozniacki.
Tennis fans have been on the lookout for Gauff’s next moves after a video of her complaining, “How is this fair?” to the umpire who turned a blind eye to her opponent’s mistake, went viral on Tiktok. But, this isn’t the first time Gauff impressed the world by being the Gen Z icon that she is.
Gauff first made headlines at the 2019 Wimbledon when she won a David vs. Goliath match against 39-year-old tennis veteran Venus Williams. She made it into the 16th round of the tournament and was thereafter declared the youngest person to achieve this feat in the history of Wimbledon. She was just 15 years old at the time and was still in the budding stage of her career.
In the same year, Gauff also grabbed her first WTA title at Linz after winning against Jelena Ostapenko.
In the years that followed, Gauff eventually became known as one of the tennis prodigies, joining the likes of Tracy Austin, Jennifer Capriati, and Andrea Jaeger.
This year, the tennis prodigy went head to head against the former Danish champ, Caroline Wozniacki. And with two of tennis’ biggest household names, their New York clash was much anticipated by sports enthusiasts around the world.
Proving to be different from all her previous rivals, Wozniacki had a strong start compared to Gauff. At one point, Gauff had her serve broken and found herself in a bit of a rut. Brad Gilbert, a coach she hired on a “trial basis”, urged her to “ play longer points” and “put more shape on the ball”.
However, Gauff had a different observation and brushed off her coach’s suggestions, even telling him to “stop talking” in the middle of the match.
“I definitely agree that playing longer points is to my advantage (in general). But I felt in that moment, playing Caroline, watching her play so many years, that that’s what she feeds off of. I didn’t want to play into that game. I know playing against her, you have to be the aggressor.“, Gauff said.
Following her intuition, Gauff played her own strategy and was able to turn the tide. She won against the former champ with 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
In an interview, Wozniacki commended Gauff for her athleticism:
“I think Coco over the last month and a half, ever since after Wimbledon, I think she’s not scared to hit through her forehand, which she has been in the past,” Wozniacki said. “I think she’s getting more depth on it and a little bit more rotation. I think that’s why she’s obviously winning more on a consistent basis. I think she’s always been a great athlete, she’s always had the backhand, the serve, the fighting spirit. I feel like right now it’s all kind of coming together for her.”
In return, Gauff also had nothing but love for Wozniacki at the end of the match, stating that she was truly an inspiration for her:
“She’s been an inspiration growing up. She definitely gets to a lot of balls. Sometimes I felt like I was playing myself. I knew I had to be aggressive today. In some moments I missed, but I was happy I was able to get back and focus”
Naomi Osaka, a two-time champion from Japan, was forced to retire from the Australian Open due to an injury sustained during her match against Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the third round.
Osaka was competing in her first Grand Slam after returning from maternity leave last year. She rejoined the WTA Tour six months after giving birth to her daughter Shai in July 2023.
After dominating the play with a 4-1 lead in the opening set, the athlete struggled with an abdominal issue and called for help at 6-5.
As her opponent ruled the tie-break, Osaka’s suffering persisted and she decided to end the day before the second set began.
Bencic said: “I really feel for Naomi. I saw her struggling a bit in the end of the set. It’s not the way you want the match to end.”
In a social media post, Osaka said: “Walking on the court today I saw a girl with a bouquet of sunflowers. It was then that I was again reminded that I will never be able to repay the love that is constantly shown. Thank you for inspiring me, thank you for believing in me 🌻❤️”
At the Australian Open last year, she lost in her opening round as she made her comeback. She also fell in the second round at Wimbledon, Roland Garros, and Flushing Meadows.
However, Osaka made an impressive impression at Melbourne Park this year, defeating 20th seed Karolina Muchova in less than two hours. She also won against Caroline Garcia of France in three sets in the opening round.
She exited from the Auckland Classic, her first WTA Final in three years, also due to an abdominal injury.
