1 of 4 | American Coco Gauff eyes a return during her straight-sets win over Maria Sakkari in a 2023 China Open quarterfinal Friday in Beijing. Photo by Wu Hao/EPA-EFE
Oct. 6 (UPI) — No. 2 Iga Swiatek and No. 3 Coco Gauff emerged victorious on Friday at the China Open, securing their spots in the tournament semifinals and setting up a highly anticipated rematch, marking their fourth encounter this year.
“Honestly, when I stepped on the court, some days you just feel like no matter what’s going to happen, you’re going to win,” Gauff expressed, according to WTA.com.
“It [has] nothing to do with the opponent. It’s just like how you’re feeling. That’s how I felt when I stepped on court today.”
Swiatek advanced to the semifinals with a hard-fought 6(8)-7, 7-6(5), 6-1 victory against No. 10 Caroline Garcia of France. The Polish tennis star capitalized on 4 out of 6 break point opportunities.
Gauff extended her remarkable 16-match winning streak with a dominant 6-2, 6-4 triumph over No. 6 Maria Sakkari of Greece. The American player delivered four aces and converted 3 out of 10 break point opportunities.
Gauff will put her unbeaten streak to the test against Swiatek on Saturday in Beijing. The 2023 U.S. Open champion will participate in her seventh semifinal of the year.
In August, Gauff defeated Swiatek in the 2023 Western & Southern Open semifinal in Cincinnati, marking her first victory against the former world No. 1 after seven attempts.
No. 5 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan caused an upset by defeating No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in another quarterfinal match at the China Open. Rybakina will face No. 22 Liudmila Samsonova of Russia in the other semifinal clash.
Samsonova defeated No. 17 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the quarterfinals.
Tennis Channel is broadcasting the China Open, including match replays. The Gauff-Swiatek match will be broadcasted live at 2:30 a.m. EDT on Saturday on the Tennis Channel’s T2 and the TC+ streaming service. Tennis Channel is available on Samsung TV Plus, YouTube TV, and Amazon’s Freevee platform.
The winner of the China Open will receive a prize of $1.32 million.
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