Coco Gauff, US Open champion, advances to the ASB Classic semi-finals with a victory over Varvara Gracheva
Coco Gauff defeated Varvara Gracheva of France in straight sets to advance to the ASB Classic semi-finals. The 19-year-old American put on a total show against her erroneous opponent, smashing 13 winners and slamming down five aces to secure her spot in the final four. Gauff commented, “I thought I served well,” following her third victory of the year. 24hscore
Coco Gauff defeated Varvara Gracheva 6-1, 6-1 on Friday in Auckland, to easily advance to the ASB Classic semi-finals.
The current US Open winner has won eight straight games in Auckland and has not lost a set throughout that span. On Saturday, she will take on Emma Navarro, the fourth-seeded player.
After a rain-delayed start to the match, Gauff, who is defending her championship in New Zealand, easily defeated her opponent, Gracheva, in just 53 minutes.
Before Gracheva maintained her service for the first time, Gauff jumped out to a 3-0 lead. However, the American won the opening set in 33 minutes because her first serve, along with her strength and accuracy from the baseline, proved to be too much for the Frenchwoman.
Similar patterns emerged in the second set as Gauff established a 4-0 lead. Gauff converted five of seven break points, but Gracheva’s number of unforced errors kept going up.
By converting her third match point, the world No. 3 guaranteed her berth in the semi-finals.
Following her first serve, Gauff won 21 of 29 points. “I thought I served well,” she remarked.
“I’m pretty thrilled with how I played, maybe the best so far in the tournament, which is something I’ve been working on off-season.
“I’m glad I was able to finish my match [before more rain].”
Xiyu Wang of China defeated Diane Perry 7-6(3) 3-6 6-4 to go to the semi-finals.
Wang overcame Perry and improved her head-to-head record to 2-0 over the Frenchwoman by winning the last five games in a row.
After taking just one hour and six minutes to defeat Marie Bouzkova 6-0 6-3, the Ukrainian will now take on Elina Svitolina, ranked 71st in the world.