Coco Gough and Iga Swiatek On Thursday night, the two sides continued to collide in the lower half of the Wuhan draw, advancing in straight sets.
Gauff defeated 36-year-old Chinese player Zhang Shuai 6-3, 6-2, while Swiatek defeated Belinda Bencic 7-6(2), 6-4.
If you score at home, Swiatek has won 11 of 15 previous games against American opponents, but in the last 3 games, Goff has won.
Gauff has reached the quarterfinals in Wuhan twice in her career, losing to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s semifinals.
An early break made the first set interesting, but Gauff won 10 of the final 13 games at 2-2 in the opener. She hit the ball with authority against the 142nd-ranked wild card player and improved her season record to 44-14.
“It was a good match with some ups and downs but I’m happy to advance,” Gauff said of her victory. The match lasted 60 minutes, with the world’s third-ranked player hitting 14 winning shots and making 18 unforced errors.
Gauff broke serve 5 times in 9 break opportunities and scored 60 out of 100 points in this game.
Gauff will face Germany’s 37-year-old Laura Sigmund in the next round.
Swiatek had to bounce back from a first-set loss to take down Bencic. The Swiss rallied after a break and led 5-4, but was unable to hold on to serve and was eliminated short in the first-set tie-break.
Bencic also took the lead with a break in the second set, but Swiatek broke first, leading 2-1, and scored a third break point in the seventh game to lead 4-3. The second-seeded Pole won 12 of the last 14 service points to seal the victory in 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Swiatek continued her quest for her 12th WTA 1000 title with a 5-1 victory over 15th-ranked Bencic. She made her debut in Wuhan and has a record of 61 wins and 14 losses this season.
Swiatek is the first WTA player since 2001 to reach the 60-win mark in four consecutive seasons. She will face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in the quarter-finals.
