The defending champion Coco Gauff retredate to beat Belinda Bencic 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 in a meeting held on Tuesday and reach the quarter-finals of China Open.
Gauff then plays Eva Lys from Germany or his American compatriot McCartney Kessler in Beijing.
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“It was a difficult match,” said Gauff. “I had a chance in the first to close it, but overall, I am satisfied with the way I fought. She was really aggressive.”
There were frustrations on both sides of the field in a largely empty stadium while the players passed between half darken by the shadow and the other under the flamboyant sun.
There was a flash point between the two players in a change in the second set when the 15th seeded in Switzerland Bencic said: “Your team discusses. I’m too old for these mind games, okay?”
“You are the one who plays the games of the mind”, Gauff, the second seeded, retaliated.
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Gauff, aged 21, kept together to win the equality break when the Olympic champion of Tokyo Bencic has doubled on the move and threw her racket of anger.
The world number three Gauff broke out at the start of the third set and followed this momentum to win when a Benc by reporting returned to the net.
With his 16 -year -old victory, Gauff qualified for the WTA final in Saudi Arabia in November.
“Happy to qualify again. Happy to be back in Riyadh and I am happy to have been able to do it here,” GAUFF told the interviewer on the field.
“It was a difficult tournament so far, but I am happy to pass.”
Mya / PST
