Gauff, Swiatek on Collision Course in Shanghai

Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek remain on collision course in the lower half of the Wuhan draw, as both advanced in straight sets on Thursday night. 

Gauff logged a 6-3, 6-2 victory over 36-year-old Chinese Zhang Shuai, while Swiatek took out Belinda Bencic 7-6(2), 6-4. 

If you’re scoring at home, Swiatek has won 11 of 15 previous meetings with her American rival, but it is Gauff who has won their last three meetings. 

Gauff reached her second quarterfinal from two career appearances at Wuhan – she lost to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka in the final four last year. 

An early trade of breaks kept things interesting in set one, but it was Gauff who took control to win 10 of the final 13 games from 2-2 in the opener. She struck the ball with authority against the 142-ranked wild card and improved to 44-14 on the season. 

“It was a good match, a little bit up and down, but I’m happy that I got through,” Gauff said of her victory, which took 60 minutes anf featured 14 winners against 18 unforced errors from the world No.3. 

Gauff broke serve five times from nine opportunities and won 60 of 100 points in the match. 

Gauff will face 37-year-old Laura Siegemund of Germany in the next round. 

Swiatek had to rally from a break down in the opening set to take out Bencic. The Swiss had rallied from a break down to lead 5-4, but failed to serve out the set and then came out on the short end of the opening-set tiebreak. 

Bencic led by a break in the second set as well but Swiatek took charge, breaking for 2-1 then again, converting a third break point in the seventh game to lead 4-3. The second-seeded Pole won 12 of her final 14 service points to lock down the victory in two hours and 10 minutes. 

Swiatek improves to 5-1 over 15th-ranked Bencic and stays in the running for what would be her 12th WTA 1000 title. She is making her debut in Wuhan, and is up to 61-14 on the season.

Swiatek is the first WTA player to reach the 60-win mark in four consecutive seasons since 2001. She will face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in the quarterfinals.