AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Coco Gauff will defend her title on the Auckland Traditional in opposition to Elina Svitolina after beating fellow American Emma Navarro 6-3, 6-1 in a semifinal Saturday.
Gauff wanted solely 62 minutes to comb previous fourth-seeded Navarro and now has gained 18 straight units and 9 consecutive matches over two years in Auckland. She has misplaced solely 15 video games in 4 matches this yr.
Gauff’s win in Auckland final yr was the beginning of a golden run that culminated together with her first main title on the US Open. She appears in related, compelling kind this yr, dominating matches together with her serve and highly effective floor photographs.
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She set down 10 aces in 12 video games in beating Navarro.
“It is a good begin to my 2024,” Gauff stated. “Emma’s a fantastic participant. We have performed one another after I was like 12 years previous and she or he was 15, so it is our second time taking part in since then. So it is actually cool to play on this stage. I want her the very best for the remainder of the season.”
Gauff, who’s now 19, broke Navarro, 22, within the opening sport of the second set and went on to win the set in 32 minutes in a managed and dominating efficiency. Her deep floor photographs allowed her to observe to the web the place she dominated and used her highly effective forehand with accuracy.
“I am simply being aggressive with my serve and return,” Gauff stated. “We performed one set in observe over right here earlier than the event started and she or he was taking part in rather well so I feel I knew I needed to be at my greatest to have the ability to win.”
Gauff’s opponent in Sunday’s remaining will likely be second-seeded Svitolina, who wanted two medical timeouts on her option to a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Wang Xiyu of China.
Svitolina dropped her serve within the third sport of the primary set and once more, to like, within the fifth sport to path 4-1.
She obtained courtside remedy for a decrease again harm then left the court docket for a medical timeout. When she returned, she instantly broke Wang’s serve however misplaced her personal and misplaced the set 6-2.
Svitolina took the second set with a solitary break within the tenth sport. She referred to as for an additional medical timeout at first of the third set however returned to carry serve and to interrupt Wang for 3-1 and 5-1 leads.
Wang broke again within the seventh sport, however Svitolina rallied and served out the set within the ninth sport with two aces.
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