Coco Gauff’s praise for Iga Swiatek ahead of crunch match at China Open

Shahida Jacobs 06 Oct 2023 1:18 PM

Coco Gauff fist pump

Coco Gauff notched up a 16th consecutive win on Friday and admitted afterwards that she will need to be at her best if she is to beat Iga Swiatek in the semi-final of the China Open.

Teenager Gauff is now just two wins away from lifting a fourth title since the beginning of August following her successes at the US Open, Cincinnati Masters and the Citi DC Open.

Her latest win – a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Maria Sakkari – helped her to extend her winning streak to 16, which is the longest on the WTA Tour this season with Swiatek second on 14.

It was an impressive display from the 19-year-old as she raced into a 4-0 lead on the back of two early breaks while a break in game five of the second set helped her to ease over the finish line.

But there is a bigger challenge ahead as she faces former world No 1 Swiatek for a place in the final.

Swiatek has dominated their head-to-head record as she leads 7-1, but crucially for Gauff her sole win came during their most recent outing in Cincinnati when she beat the then world No 1 in three sets in the semi-final.

Gauff had nothing but praise for Swiatek ahead of their clash as she revealed the key to beating the four-time Grand Slam winner.

“Everybody who plays her, no matter the game style, you have to be prepared to run and just be ready for everything,” she said.

“She’s in the position she is for a reason, she’s one of the best players in the world for a reason, and I’m just going to go out there and hopefully do a similar result to Cincinnati. If not, I’m really proud of the way that I’ve been doing to get to the semi-finals so far.”

Winning machine 🤖@CocoGauff extends her unbeaten run to 16 and will now face Swiatek for a place in the showpiece final!#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/9d5QeAnYvN

— wta (@WTA) October 6, 2023

Iga Swiatek v Coco Gauff head-to-head

2023 Cincinnati Masters – Gauff won 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-2
2023 Roland Garros – Swiatek won 6-4, 6-2
2023 Dubai – Swiatek won 6-4, 6-2
2022 WTA Finals – Swiatek won 6-3, 6-0
2022 San Diego – 6-0, 6-3
2022 Roland Garros – Swiatek won 6-1, 6-3
2022 Miami – Swiatek won 6-3, 6-1
2021 Rome – Swiatek won 7-6 (7-3), 6-3

Swiatek, meanwhile, overcame a spirited Caroline Garcia 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 and twice came within two points of losing the match.

“For sure it was really intense. We played really fast. There was no time sometimes to think or analyse. I’m happy I used my intuition a lot,” the Pole said.

“In both of these first sets, every ball counted. I’m happy that in the third I could just go for it.”