‘There are changes happening’ – Coco Gauff’s revelation about her game as she reaches milestone in Wuhan
Coco Gauff declared there are “changes happening” in her game after she continued her sensational form in China by reaching the Wuhan Open semi-finals.
The American star earned a dominant 6-0, 6-4 victory against world No 45 Magda Linette in the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan.
Gauff broke the 32-year-old Pole four times and did not lose her own serve as she extended her winning streak to nine matches.
The 20-year-old won her first title since Auckland in January at the China Open in Beijing last week and she has added three straight-set wins in Wuhan.
Gauff has climbed from fourth to third in the live WTA Rankings with the 390 points she has collected for reaching the last four in Wuhan. She will face either world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka or 27th-ranked Magdalena Frech in the semi-finals.
The American has made an incredible start to her collaboration with coach Matt Daly, who joined her team ahead of the China Open. Gauff split with former coach Brad Gilbert after the US Open last month.
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After her win over Linette, Gauff was asked if she had changed her forehand grip since joining forces with Daly.
“I don’t want to give too much of what’s going on, but there are changes happening,” Gauff said. “I’ve been playing with them since Beijing.”
Gauff’s victory saw her become the third player, after Iga Swiatek and Sabalenka, to reach the 50-win milestone on the WTA Tour in 2024.
The 20-year-old is also the second-youngest player to reach the semi-finals in Beijing and Wuhan in the same season since Jelena Ostapenko in 2017.
In her press conference, Gauff was asked if she had had the chance to experience any local culture in Wuhan.
“Actually yesterday, we went to the mall at Joy City,” Gauff revealed. “We went to one of the Chinese restaurants. I don’t know the name. We kind of picked one because we didn’t understand how to read the sign (smiling).
“Yeah, I had, like, garlic chicken. I think it was Hainanese Chinese food. I think there’s different regions. My mom had shrimp. I had rice. I tried some of the tea which is like the rose long tea, which is a Chinese traditional tea.
“Yeah, we had like the chicken wings. Their chicken wings are really good. My chicken was also good. It was spicy. I wasn’t expecting it to be spicy, and I like spice. I did finish it, but it took me a couple rounds of water and everything to finish it.
“That was the one thing we said we hadn’t done. We had traditional Chinese at the site, but I think it’s much different when you go to a restaurant and eat it.
“Yeah, that was one thing we wanted to check off of our list and we did that. If we have time today, we’ll maybe go to another one and get something different.”
