Cincinnati Masters: Coco Gauff beats Jasmine Paolini, sets showdown against Swiatek

The No.7 seed Coco Gauff of the United States stormed into the Cincinnati Masters semifinals for the first time with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Italian qualifier Jasmine Paolini

Cincinnati: The No.7 seed Coco Gauff of the United States stormed into the Cincinnati Masters semifinals for the first time with a 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Italian qualifier Jasmine Paolini.

Gauff defeated World No.43 Paolini in a match that lasted for 1 hour and 12 minutes to get to the final four in Cincinnati. In the semifinals, Gauff will face a frequent opponent, World No.1 Iga Swiatek. “Really happy with how I was able to play today. She’s not an easy opponent. Last time I played her we had a long three-set match. So I’m happy to get it in in straight sets today,” WTA quoted Gauff as saying, after her win. With her quarterfinal victory over Paolini on Friday, Gauff moved to 2-0 against her opponent. The American kid won three more points and made two less unforced errors than the 27-year-old Italian. Gauff had 14 break points throughout the match, converting six of them.

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Paolini broke Gauff in both sets’ opening service games, but Gauff quickly roared back in the lead on both occasions. Gauff made several effective ventures to the net in the second set, and she won the final six games of the match to go to the semifinals.

Swiatek defeated No.10 seed Marketa Vondrousova in straight sets earlier on Friday, in a clash between the two most recent Grand Slam champions.

Gauff has yet to defeat Swiatek in their seven career meetings, which include last year’s Roland Garros final and two matches this season, including the French Open quarterfinals.

“I don’t have a good track record against [Swiatek]. I feel like the [2023] French Open match that I played her, even though it was a straight-sets score line, I think I made some improvements against her since the last time I played her,” Gauff said.

“I’m just really going to go out there and continue to follow the plan that I’ve been doing in the last couple of my matches. … I do feel a lot more confident going into it tomorrow. But she’s not an easy opponent to play, especially against me. I think I really just got to take it point by point and try to stay mentally engaged every ball,” she added.