Seventh time turned out to be lucky for Jasmine Paolini as she defeated the six-time Major winner Iga Swiatek in the Wuhan Open quarterfinals. Paolini will be up against America’s sensation Coco Gauff for a place in the final.
Jasmine Paolini achieved a major first as the Italian registered her maiden victory over Iga Swiatek at the Wuhan Open quarterfinals on Friday. After suffering six straight defeats to the six-time Grand Slam winner, the seventh time turned out to be lucky for the eighth-ranked Paolini, who emerged victorious in China in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, in a clash that lasted a bit over 65 minutes.
Coming into the clash, Paolini had won just one set against Swiatek, but she displayed her aggressiveness and put Swiatek off balance for the majority of the clash. The Italian was flawless in the game, having committed only three unforced errors throughout. “Oh, really,” she laughed after knowing the absurdly low number of errors she made. “Today I stepped on court with clear ideas of what I have to do to try to put her be in difficulty. To beat Iga, you have to play amazing. I managed to keep the level from the first shot to the last one. Finally, I won a match. I’m super happy about my level. Just feels amazing.”
Paolini will be up against third-ranked Coco Gauff in the semifinal after the American young sensation defeated Laura Siegemund in her quarterfinal 6-3, 6-0 victory. Gauff is now into her second straight semifinal after having lost to eventual champion Amanda Anisimova in the last four at the China Open last week.
Sabalenka up against Pegula in semis
Meanwhile, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka will be up against America’s Jessica Pegula in her last four. Sabalenka defeated eighth-seeded Elena Rybakina 6-3, 6-3 to extend her winning streak at Wuhan to 20 matches. The World No.1 is now the fourth player to have won their 1st 20 main draw matches in a single WTA event since 1990. She will be up against Pegula, who defeated Kateřina Siniaková in her quarterfinal in three sets, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3, for a seventh consecutive match win.