Beijing (AFP) – Jannik Sinner reached his third China Open final in a row on Tuesday as defending women’s champion Coco Gauff fought back to beat Belinda Bencic in a spicy contest. The world number two Italian Sinner beat Australia’s Alex de Minaur 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 and is one victory away from a second title in Beijing. Top seed Sinner will face either American teenager Learner Tien or eighth-seeded Daniil Medvedev in the final. His only loss on Beijing’s centre Diamond Court has been to great rival Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year’s championship match in three gripping sets.
“It’s a very special place for me. This court has always been amazing,” Sinner, beaten by Alcaraz in the recent US Open final, said. “Many things were positive finding myself again here, playing the last match of the tournament, it’s great,” he added. “I’m very happy to be here on court tomorrow.” Alcaraz is not defending his title in the Chinese capital and is instead playing in Tokyo. De Minaur, who had never beaten Sinner in 10 previous meetings, forced a deciding set but Sinner reset and claimed victory when the third-seeded Australian fired long. “He was playing some great tennis in the second set,” the 24-year-old Sinner said. “The third set, luckily, I started very well, which gave me the confidence to continue.”
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In the women’s draw, Gauff beat Bencic 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 and plays 66th-ranked Eva Lys of Germany in the quarter-finals. “It was a tough match,” Gauff, the American second seed, said. “I had chances in the first to close it out but overall I’m happy with how I fought. She was being really aggressive.”
There were frustrations on both sides of the court at a largely empty stadium as the players switched between one half darkened by shade and the other in the blazing sun. There was a flashpoint between the two players during a changeover in the second set when Switzerland’s 15th seed Bencic said: “Your team is chatting. I’m too old for these mind games, okay?” “You’re the one playing the mind games,” Gauff shot back. The 21-year-old Gauff kept it together to win the tiebreak when Tokyo Olympic champion Bencic double-faulted on set point and threw her racquet in anger.
The world number three Gauff broke early in the third set and carried that momentum through to win when a flagging Bencic returned weakly into the net. With her last-16 victory, Gauff qualified for the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia in November. “Happy to qualify once again. Happy to be back in Riyadh and I’m glad I was able to do it here,” Gauff told the on-court interviewer.
Gauff faces Lys, who is into her first quarter-final in a WTA 1000 event after defeating McCartney Kessler of the United States 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
© 2024 AFP
