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Gauff Building Momentum in Wuhan, US Open Finalist Pegula Out

Coco Gauff of the USA hits a return to Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk during their women's singles match at the Wuhan Open tennis tournament in Wuhan, China's Hubei province on October 10, 2024. (Photo by WANG Zhao / AFP)
Coco Gauff of the USA hits a return to Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk during their women's singles match at the Wuhan Open tennis tournament in Wuhan, China's Hubei province on October 10, 2024. (Photo by WANG Zhao / AFP)
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Gauff Building Momentum in Wuhan, US Open Finalist Pegula Out

Coco Gauff of the USA hits a return to Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk during their women's singles match at the Wuhan Open tennis tournament in Wuhan, China's Hubei province on October 10, 2024. (Photo by WANG Zhao / AFP)
Coco Gauff of the USA hits a return to Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk during their women's singles match at the Wuhan Open tennis tournament in Wuhan, China's Hubei province on October 10, 2024. (Photo by WANG Zhao / AFP)

Coco Gauff advanced to the quarterfinals of the Wuhan Open with a 6-4, 6-1 rout of 17th-ranked Marta Kostyuk in just over an hour on Thursday.
It was the fourth-ranked Gauff's eighth consecutive win on the WTA Tour's Asian swing after the American won the China Open last week which moved her back into the top five in the rankings.
Gauff fired two aces and broke the Ukrainian's serve five times — for the loss of one of her own — as she clinched a one-sided match and extended her lead in their head-to-head series to 3-1.
“I’m really happy with how I played today,” Gauff said. “It was a pretty straightforward match. Marta and I always have some good battles. Today I was able to get through in straight sets.”
Next for Gauff is No. 45-ranked Magda Linette, who continued her impressive form this week by beating eighth-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-3, The Associated Press reported.
“Yeah, so she’s a tough opponent,” Gauff said of Linette. "We haven’t played since (the US Open in 2021). I really don’t know what to expect. But just from watching her play, she’s been playing a great couple of matches here in Wuhan.
"I expect it to be a tough match. She’s not an easy opponent to play."
Gauff will be the only American left in the draw after third-ranked Jessica Pegula and tour rookie Hailey Baptiste both lost.
Pegula, the US Open finalist, had a tough afternoon against the 51st-ranked Wang Xinyu of China, who was dominant on serve throughout and clinched a 6-3, 7-5 win to make her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal.
Wang had won their only previous meeting in three sets in the second round at Wimbledon earlier this year and got off to a fast start here by breaking Pegula twice in the opening set to take the lead.
After her first win over a top 10 player in the previous round, Baptiste was routed 6-1, 6-1 by Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The 22-year-old American was broken six times by the No. 33-ranked Russian who clinched her quarterfinal berth against Wang in 63 minutes
Later, second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka looked to maintain her undefeated record at the Wuhan Open when she plays Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in her third-round match.
A win for the Belarussian will allow her to regain top spot in the rankings from Iga Swiatek, who is absent from the women's tour Asian swing citing personal reasons and fatigue.
Sabalenka, the reigning US Open champion, is 13-0 in Wuhan after winning the title on her first appearance in 2018 and defending her crown in 2019 before the tournament took a five-year hiatus from the calendar due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

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Sinner Avenges Shanghai Defeat to Shelton. Sabalenka Still Unbeaten in Wuhan

Jannik Sinner of Italy plays a backhand return against Ben Shelton of the United States during the men's singles fourth round match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Jannik Sinner of Italy plays a backhand return against Ben Shelton of the United States during the men's singles fourth round match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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Sinner Avenges Shanghai Defeat to Shelton. Sabalenka Still Unbeaten in Wuhan

Jannik Sinner of Italy plays a backhand return against Ben Shelton of the United States during the men's singles fourth round match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Jannik Sinner of Italy plays a backhand return against Ben Shelton of the United States during the men's singles fourth round match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Jannik Sinner avenged his defeat to Ben Shelton in the fourth round of last year's Shanghai Masters with a 6-4, 7-6 (1) to spoil the 22-year-old American's birthday on Wednesday.
Like last year, the duel again featured some incredible shot-making and serving dominance but this time the 23-year old Italian prevailed to improve his record against Shelton to 4-1.
“I think it was a very tough match also today,” The Associated Press quoted Sinner as saying. "He had chances in the first, chances in the second. If I don’t play well these points, you know, he wins in two sets, because he was serving very, very well.
"Happy how I handled this situation, it’s obviously a position where I have been last year, and where I am right now, it’s different, so I’m happy to be in the position where I am."
Sinner's break in the ninth game was all that separated the duo in the opening set. Both players then dominated on their own serve through the second before the Italian sped away in the tiebreak and won the last seven points of the match.
Sinner is now through to his seventh ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal of the year and will play fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev, who earlier beat long-time rival Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (3), 6-3.
It was the 14th time the Russian former US Open champion and 12th-ranked Greek had met, but first in nearly a year. With Wednesday's win, Medvedev extended his head-to-head series lead to 10-4.
Second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who won the China Open in a thriller against Sinner last week, made it 12 consecutive wins with a testing 6-4, 7-5 victory over French veteran Gael Monfils to advance to the quarterfinals.
Alcaraz needed all his shot-making abilities to outmaneuver the 38-year-old Monfils, with the 21-year-old Spaniard making 22 winners and taking a break in each set to clinch the match in 87 minutes.
“The main thing I tried in this match was to stay calm, to control my emotions and wait for my chances,” Alcaraz said.
The French Open and Wimbledon champion will play Tomas Machac or Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals.
Wuhan Open Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka maintained her undefeated record at the Wuhan Open, opening her campaign with a 6-4, 6-4 win over 37th-ranked Katerina Siniakova in a second-round match on Wednesday.
Two-time defending champion Sabalenka, who received a bye in the first round with the other top eight seeds, broke her Czech opponent twice in each set — as well as surrendering one of her own service games — as she clinched her latest win in 1 hour and 34 minutes of play.
In the third round, the 26-year-old Belarussian will play Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, who ended Paris Olympics silver medalist Donna Vekic’s tournament with 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory.
The reigning US Open champion is now up to 13-0 in Wuhan after winning the title on her first appearance in 2018 and defending her crown in 2019 before the tournament took its five-year hiatus from the calendar due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and a WTA boycott of China.
“I missed Wuhan a lot,” Sabalenka said. “I just have really good memories of winning, two times, the title here. Just Wuhan brings me a lot of great memories, good vibes.”
Sabalenka needs only to make the quarterfinals at Wuhan to regain top spot in the rankings from Iga Swiatek, who withdrew from the women’s Asian swing citing fatigue and personal reasons. Swiatek recently split with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.
There were six Americans in second round matches on Wednesday.
China Open champion Coco Gauff routed Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 6-2 in 75 minutes, while Hailey Baptiste upset 10th-ranked Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 7-5 for her first win over a Top-10 player.
Magdalena Frech beat eighth-ranked Emma Navarro 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in just over two hours, and No. 11-ranked Daria Kasatkina overcame a mid-match stumble to defeat Amercian Bernarda Pera 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
Amanda Anisimova withdrew from her match against 17th-ranked Marta Kostyuk.
Later Wednesday, third-ranked Jessica Pegula plays Anastasia Potapova and the Andreeva sisters — Mirra and Erika — face each other for the first time at a tour-level tournament.