Prime seed Aryna Sabalenka was knocked out of the Italian Open quarter-finals by China’s Qinwen Zheng, as Coco Gauff booked a semi-final place.
Gauff continued her mastery over Russian teen Mirra Andreeva and returned to the Italian Open semi-finals with a 6-4 7-6 (5) victory on Wednesday in Rome.
The fourth-seeded American’s subsequent opponent might be No 8 seed Zheng, who ousted Sabalenka 6-4 6-3.
The opposite semi-final on the WTA 1000 clay-court match will characteristic sixth-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini and unseeded American Peyton Stearns, who received their quarter-final matches on Tuesday.
Gauff, 21, improved to 4-0 in opposition to the 18-year-old Andreeva and raised her profession document to 11-1 in opposition to gamers youthful than her.
“Honestly I don’t think about the head-to-head so much,” Gauff stated after ending her quarter-final win in a single hour and 42 minutes. “Particularly if you’re taking part in somebody youthful, that they’ll enhance a lot in a bit of little bit of time.
“I mean, I think about my game compared to when I was her age to now, it’s a lot different. At the same time when I go on court, I treat each match like a new match and expect her to be better than the last time we played.”
Gauff, who overcame a 3-2 deficit within the second set, turned the youngest three-time semi-finalist (2021, 2024) within the Italian capital since Martina Hingis in 1999.
The decisive tiebreak went forwards and backwards, together with a superb drop shot by the Russian to make it 5-5, earlier than a few errant backhands sealed Andreeva’s destiny.
“At the end, my defence, it was tough,” Gauff stated. “We were both tight in the tiebreaker, it was whoever could make the last ball. Today some points weren’t my best, but I still managed to be successful.”
Zheng, 22, reached the ultimate 4 in Rome for the primary time after quarter-final exits in 2023 and 2024. She struck 4 aces and received 82 p.c (28 of 34) of her first-service factors within the 97-minute win over World No. 1 Sabalenka.
Zheng saved all 5 break factors and transformed three of her 10 break possibilities, together with the deciding sport on her second match level.
Tensions bought the perfect of Sabalenka early within the second set when she yelled at a spectator to “shut the (expletive) up,” prompting a warning from the chair umpire for an audible obscenity.
Zheng defeated Sabalenka for the primary time in seven conferences and reached her first semi-final of the season.
“It’s been a long time I haven’t arrived in semi-finals,” Zheng, the Paris Olympics gold medalist, advised Sky Sports activities Tennis after the match.
“It was not easy for me because at the beginning of the year I had some struggles with my arm.
“So proper now I am simply completely in form and attempting to play higher tennis on a regular basis.”
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