At the China Open, Coco Gauff extended her winning streak to a total of 16 victories, setting up a matchup against Iga Swiatek in the semifinals.
Maria Sakkari, the sixth seed from Greece, was defeated in Beijing by the American teenager who is only 19 years old and who won her first Grand Slam victory at the US Open in September.
After the Polish player came back from the verge of defeat against Caroline Garcia, the number three player in the world will compete against the number two player in the rankings, Swiatek.
Garcia came within two points of winning the match but ultimately fell short, 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.
Aryna Sabalenka, the number one player in the world, was defeated by Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-2.
After losing her serve late in the first set due to an errant forehand, Sabalenka was broken twice in the second set by the 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina, who advances to the semifinals to face Liudmila Samsonova.
Samsonova of Russia advanced to the semifinals of the tournament by claiming a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Ostapenko of Latvia.
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Gauff’s current winning streak is the longest one on the WTA Tour in 2023, and she has not been defeated since her doubles partner Jessica Pegula defeated them in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open on August 11. This makes Gauff’s winning streak the longest one on the WTA Tour in 2023.
Since losing in the first round of the Wimbledon tournament, she has won 21 of her subsequent 22 matches, capturing her first WTA 1000 championship at Cincinnati and her first Grand Slam victory in New York.
Gauff defeated Sakkari in just one hour and twenty minutes while not dropping a single serve during the match.
The journey to the semifinals was not as smooth sailing for Swiatek, who was dethroned as the number one player in the world by Sabalenka after the Belarusian’s run to the final of the US Open. Sabalenka won the Australian Open earlier this year.
After Garcia battled back from four points down to even the score in the second-set tie-break at 5-5, the 22-year-old player who has already won four major titles kept her composure.
Swiatek took the following two points to send the match into a decisive third set, which, in contrast to the previous two sets, was a one-sided push to the finish line.
