China Open: Semifinals feature all debutants
Iga Swiatek to play Coco Gauff, while Liudmila Samsonova will take to the court against Elena Rybakina in the semifinals in Beijing.
The quarterfinals starred five of the top ten players on the WTA Tour.
Caroline Garcia jumped out to an early lead against Swiatek after forcing a first set tiebreak and going up 1-0. But the world No. 2 bounced back winning the second set in a tiebreak and out playing Garcia in a third set that saw Swiatek win 6-1. Advancing to the semifinal, Swiatek is looking to win a title in her debut at the China Open.
Gauff took to her dominant backhand ability and reliably quick defense to beat Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-4 in a comfortable match in Beijing. Sakkari played with her back against the wall as she couldn’t gain much traction on Gauff’s service games, and giving the American 10 break point opportunities – hitting 26 unforced errors and only winning 11 receiving points, Sakkari was out played by the 19 year-old.
Samsonova, the shock quaterfinalist, met her match against another offensive style player in Jelena Ostapenko. Despite offering a tight match with many winners, Samsonova ran through her opponent 6-3, 6-2, dropping only 11 service points. Her strong serves and 91.3% first serve win rate, boosts the Russian into the semifinal in her debut in Beijing.
The world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka was downed by world No. 4 Rybakina in straight sets. Sabalenka proved to be outplayed by her opponent only receiving one break point opportunity, while Rybakina played astonishing defense converting four of nine break points winning the match 7-5, 6-2. The 24 year-old looks to win her third WTA 1000 tournament of the year.
