In a rematch from the opening round of the 2021 US Open, Coco Gauff will take on Magda Linette on Friday in the first quarter-final at the Wuhan Open.
On Wednesday, the American had no trouble getting past Marta Kostyuk in straight sets 6-4 6-1, while Linette defeated Daria Kasatkina comfortably, 6-2 6-3.
Match preview
© Imago
Fresh off winning the China Open, Coco Gauff has continued that momentum into this tournament, failing to drop a single set at the Wuhan Open thus far.
In her previous match, she was able to win 80% of her first serves and only gave up one break point while converting five of hers.
At 20 years old, Gauff is one of the rising talents on the women's side, seeded fourth at this event, with her two tournament victories this year being on the hard court.
The young American is an aggressive player with a massive serve that even some of the best players on tour struggle to contain, with Gauff hitting 212 aces in 2024.
With that aggression, though, comes unforced errors, and she has made a lot of them, with 357 double faults in 59 matches played this year.
Gauff has won 72.1% of her first serve points in 2024 and has also won 45.3% of her return games while converting just over half (50.9%) of her break point opportunities.
© Imago
The road to the quarter-finals has been relatively straightforward so far for Magda Linette, winning two of her three matches in straight sets and prevailing in her round of 32 encounter with Lesia Tsurenko in a walkover.
Her victory over Kasatkina sent her into the quarter-finals of a WTA tournament for the first time since winning the Liverport Prague Open in straight sets versus her Polish compatriot Magdalena Frech 6-2 6-1.
Linette did not commit a single double fault in her round of 16 triumph while winning five of her six break point opportunities and boasting a 67% first serve percentage.
A 2023 semi-finalist on the singles side at the Australian Open, Linette did not come into this event in great form, finishing no better than the last 16 in her previous six singles tournaments.
She has played 47 matches this year and has fared well when on serve, winning 69.2% of her service games to this stage of the 2024 campaign.
Linette's return game has been equally strong this year, winning 41.9% of her return points and converting 42.6% of her break points.
Tournament so far
Coco Gauff:
Round of 32: vs. Viktoriya Tomova 6-1 6-2
Round of 16: vs. Marta Kostyuk 6-4 6-1
Magda Linette:
Round of 64: vs. Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 6-2
Round of 32: vs. Lesia Tsurenko 5-2 walkover
Round of 16: vs. Daria Kasatkina 6-2 6-3
Head To Head
US Open (2019) - First Round: Gauff wins 5-7 6-3 6-4
The only previous meeting between these two occurred just over three years ago, in a match that saw Gauff register eight double faults but also hit nine aces while winning 69% of her first serves to claim victory.
We say: Gauff to win in three sets
It has not been a terribly difficult path for either player to get to this stage, so expect to see a spirited affair, and in the end, we believe that Gauff's serve will make the difference.
Joel Lefevre
