Italian Open: Aryna Sabalenka surprised by means of Qinwen Zheng as Coco Gauff reaches semi-finals in Rome

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka was once knocked out of the Italian Open quarter-finals by means of China’s Qinwen Zheng, as Coco Gauff booked a semi-final position.

Gauff persevered her mastery over Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva and returned to the Italian Open semi-finals with a 6-4 7-6 (5) victory on Wednesday in Rome.

The fourth-seeded American’s subsequent opponent can be No 8 seed Zheng, who ousted Sabalenka 6-4 6-3.

The different semi-final on the WTA 1000 clay-court match will characteristic sixth-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini and unseeded American Peyton Stearns, who gained their quarter-final fits on Tuesday.

Gauff, 21, advanced to 4-0 in opposition to the 18-year-old Andreeva and raised her profession document to 11-1 in opposition to avid gamers more youthful than her.

“Honestly I don’t think about the head-to-head so much,” Gauff stated after completing her quarter-final win in a single hour and 42 mins. “Especially if you end up taking part in any person more youthful, you already know that they are able to reinforce such a lot in somewhat little bit of time.

“I mean, I think about my game compared to when I was her age to now, it’s a lot different. At the same time when I go on court, I treat each match like a new match and expect her to be better than the last time we played.”

Gauff, who overcame a 3-2 deficit in the second one set, become the youngest three-time semi-finalist (2021, 2024) within the Italian capital since Martina Hingis in 1999.

The decisive tiebreak went from side to side, together with an excellent drop shot by means of the Russian to make it 5-5, sooner than a few errant backhands sealed Andreeva’s destiny.

“At the end, my defence, it was tough,” Gauff stated. “We were both tight in the tiebreaker, it was whoever could make the last ball. Today some points weren’t my best, but I still managed to be successful.”

Zheng, 22, reached the overall 4 in Rome for the primary time after quarter-final exits in 2023 and 2024. She struck 4 aces and gained 82 p.c (28 of 34) of her first-service issues within the 97-minute win over World No. 1 Sabalenka.

Zheng stored all 5 damage issues and transformed 3 of her 10 damage possibilities, together with the deciding sport on her 2nd fit level.

Tensions were given the most efficient of Sabalenka early in the second one set when she yelled at a spectator to “shut the (expletive) up,” prompting a caution from the chair umpire for an audible obscenity.

Zheng defeated Sabalenka for the primary time in seven conferences and reached her first semi-final of the season.

“It’s been a long time I haven’t arrived in semi-finals,” Zheng, the Paris Olympics gold medalist, instructed Sky Sports Tennis after the fit.

“It was not easy for me because at the beginning of the year I had some struggles with my arm.

“So at this time I’m simply completely in form and seeking to play higher tennis at all times.”

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