2024 Beijing Day 9: Gauff, Badosa Set for Potential Semifinal Showdown; Sabalenka, Zheng Storm Through!
With the men’s Beijing event wrapped up in thrilling fashion, the women will now have full center stage at the China Open. On Thursday, the first semifinal will be set as favorites Coco Gauff and Paula Badosa look to book their berths. Gauff will take on the qualifier from Ukraine Yulia Starodubtseva. “The main thing for me is not…
With the men’s Beijing event wrapped up in thrilling fashion, the women will now have full center stage at the China Open.
On Thursday, the first semifinal will be set as favorites Coco Gauff and Paula Badosa look to book their berths.
Gauff will take on the qualifier from Ukraine Yulia Starodubtseva.
“The main thing for me is not to give too much respect, which I do sometimes as a new player,” Starodubtseva said. “Even today, Anna is a great player, she’s No.14 in the world. It’s hard to put that fact aside when the player is much higher ranked. The main thing is to think of them as a regular opponent.”
Badosa meets China’s Shuai Zhang who entered the event on a 24-match match losing streak.
“I never saw the draw because I never really win a match, so there was no point for me to look forward to the next round,” Zhang said. “In this tournament, I really never think about the next match. Winning one was enough for me.
“In this draw, everyone has a higher ranking than me. When you are barefoot, you have nothing to lose. Just step on court, just play. So I do not have much to think about, to prepare. I will just focus on myself.”
Today, Aryna Sabalenka and Aryna Sabalenka moved closed to a semifinal collision. Sabalenka rolled past Madison Keys 6-4, 6-3 to her 15th straight match while Zheng rallied from a set down to defeat Amanda Anisimova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Mirra Andreeva and Karolina Muchova advanced to quarters, as well.
