Beijing, the capital city of China, is currently hosting the China Open, one of the biggest tennis tournaments on the WTA-1000 level. On Saturday, the young and talented Coco Gauff once again proved her resilience and determination as she fought back from a set down for the third consecutive match to secure her place in the final.
The sixth-ranked Gauff faced a tough challenge from Spain’s Paula Badosa, who took the first set in a tight 59 minutes. Saving 10 out of 11 break points, Badosa showed her strength and held a 3-1 lead in the second set. However, the 17-year-old Gauff, who has already won one WTA-1000 title, refused to give up. She saved four break points and broke back to level the set at 4-4, shifting the momentum in her favour. With her power and determination, Gauff went on to win the second set and force a deciding set.
“I felt like I was playing the right way the whole time, just a couple of unforced errors, she was playing well too,” Gauff said in her on-court interview. “I was trying to stay focused. Mentally, I just tried to reset. I got down a couple of times, and I tried to bounce back.”
With all the momentum on her side, Gauff continued to dominate in the third set. She broke Badosa three more times, losing only one of her own service games, and clinched the match in 2 hours and 20 minutes. This win marks Gauff’s seventh consecutive victory in tour finals. She has proven time and time again that she is a fighter on the court, never giving up even in the face of tough opponents.
“I’ve had tough opponents the whole tournament,” Gauff said of her performance in Beijing. And indeed, she has. In the fourth round, she faced Naomi Osaka, who had won four majors in her career. Despite losing the first set, Gauff showed her resilience once again as Osaka retired with a back injury, giving Gauff a walkover into the next round. In the quarterfinals, Gauff faced the 115th-ranked Yuliia Starodubtseva and was once again pushed to the brink, but she fought back and won in three sets.
Gauff will now face Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in Sunday’s final. Muchova, who defeated Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen in the other semifinal, will also be looking to claim her second WTA-1000 title. It will be an exciting match between two young and talented players, both eager to add another trophy to their collection.
In the men’s category, the Shanghai Masters is also underway, and two familiar faces are already making their mark. Carlos Alcaraz and top-ranked Jannik Sinner, who faced each other in the final of the China Open earlier this week, showed no signs of fatigue as they advanced with comfortable straight-set victories in their opening matches.
The second-ranked Alcaraz, who defeated Sinner in Beijing to claim his fourth title of the year, continued his impressive form with a dominant 6-2, 6-2 win against 19-year-old Shang Juncheng of China. Alcaraz, who won his first ATP title in Chengdu earlier this month, will now face another Chinese player, Wu Yibing, in the third round.
“I’m not used to playing against players younger than me,” Alcaraz said. “He has been playing good tennis lately, lifting his first ATP title, so I’m pretty sure he’s going to climb the rankings. I’m just happy to be able to win these kinds of matches.”
Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner, who is dealing with an ongoing doping case, comfortably won his 250th career match against Taro Daniel of Japan. The Italian, who won the US Open last month for his second major of the year, fired 12 aces and 38 winners in his 6-1, 6-4 victory. He will now face Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina in the third round.
“I felt quite comfortable today,” Sinner said. “I feel in good shape also physically, which is very important for me. Of course, I will try to improve for tomorrow’s performance, but today I was serving really, really
