No.5 seed Coco Gauff won an all-American quarterfinal over Madison Keys in straight sets to reach the final four of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Gauff gained her third semifinal at WTA 1000 level or above with a 6-2, 7-5 defeat of Madison Keys on Thursday.
Next up for Gauff is a challenging matchup. She will face No.1 seed Iga Swiatek in the semifinals for the sixth time.
Gauff, who opened 2023 with a title run in Auckland, will be a considerable underdog when she meets the world No. 1. Swiatek has only dropped eight games over her last five matches and she’s won all 10 sets against Gauff. Asked what she’s learned from those defeats during her on-court interview, Gauff responded, “That all five times I did something wrong.”
Expanding on the subject in press, the 18-year-old said, “It’s going to be a challenge. But, to be honest, I think it’s a good matchup just to see where I can maybe improve on. There’s no pressure for me. I’m just going to go out there swinging. Whatever happens happens. You just kind of have to go in believing you can win even when the odds seem stacked against you.”
Iga Swiatek barely worked up a sweat on Wednesday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, yet she still registered two wins at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The top-seeded Polish player crushed 14th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova of Russia in 76 minutes in third-round action. Later, Swiatek, the reigning French Open champion, received a walkover into the semifinals when the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a viral illness.
Can Coco Gauff challenge Iga Swiatek with a new game plan? We’ll find out Friday in Dubai.
3rd seed Jessica Pegula locks horns with Barbora Krejcikova in the semifinals of the 2023 Dubai Tennis Championships on Friday.
Barbora Krejcikova handed Aryna Sabalenka her first loss of the year with a comeback win in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships quarterfinals. Krejcikova will face Jessica Pegula in the semifinals after Karolina Muchova withdrew due to an abdominal injury.
Krejcikova and Pegula faced off for the first time in singles just this year, with Pegula notching a 7-5, 6-2 win in the Round of 16 at the Australian Open.
“I’m looking forward for the revenge because in Australia I lost to her,” Krejcikova said. “I definitely want to just go there again and just enjoy the match, just fight for every single ball. If I’m able to do that, I think I definitely have a chance.”