Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka to square off in Wuhan semifinal

Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka set up a semifinals showdown with quick victories Friday over a pair of Polish opponents at the Wuhan Open in China.

Gauff defeated Magda Linette 6-0, 6-4 in 84 minutes -- a minute longer than it took Sabalenka to knock out Magdalena Frech 6-2, 6-2.

Gauff, the fourth seed, posted eight double faults but still won 81 percent (26 of 32) of points on her first serve. Linette couldn't convert any of the five break chances she had, while Gauff broke her serve four times.

"I played well ... overall, maybe two bad games," Gauff said after the match.

Sabalenka, the top seed from Belarus, got off to a quick start, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first set. In the second set, she started 3-0 but Frech used a break point to get back to 3-2, but that was as close as she would get to Sabalenka.

The two-time defending champion, Sabalenka now has won 15 matches against no losses in Wuhan.

Now, Gauff and Sabalenka -- the past two U.S. Open champions -- will square off in the semifinals on Saturday. It will be the eighth meeting between them; Gauff has won four times.

Sabalenka defeated Gauff in straight sets in the Australian Open semifinal this year. In 2023, Gauff beat Sabalenka in the final of the U.S. Open in three sets.

"We've played a lot of matches in the past, a lot of great battles," Sabalenka said. "I'm really excited."

The other semifinal will draw immense local interest as Qinwen Zheng, the fifth seed, will meet Xinyu Wang in the first all-Chinese semifinal at a WTA 1000 tournament.

Zheng, the 2024 Olympic champion, defeated third-seeded Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Wang saved two match points in the third set to top Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6). She rallied from a break down in the deciding set when Alexandrova, serving for the win at 5-4, couldn't hold serve.

Neither Zheng nor Wang ever have played in a WTA 1000 final.

--Field Level Media