Coco Gauff’s impressive run in China continued with a commanding 6-4, 6-1 victory over Marta Kostyuk in the Round of 16 at the Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open on Thursday. Gauff, the No.4 seed, won in just 61 minutes, securing her eighth straight win on tour following her triumph at the WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing last week.
Gauff’s dominant performance on Thursday featured five converted break points and a powerful return game, allowing her to progress to the quarterfinals. The 20-year-old American becomes the youngest player to reach 70 career match-wins at WTA 1000 events, joining an elite group of players like Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, and Iga Swiatek to achieve this milestone before the age of 23.
In the quarterfinals, Gauff will face World No.45 Magda Linette, who upset No.8 seed Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-3. Gauff previously won their only prior meeting at the 2021 US Open.
Gauff praised her performance, saying, “I’m really happy with how I played today… Marta and I always have good battles, but today I was able to get through in straight sets.”
Meanwhile, Jessica Pegula’s bid to join Gauff in the final eight fell short as she was defeated by Wang Xinyu, 6-3, 7-5. Wang’s solid baseline play helped her score her best career win by ranking and advance to her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal.
Gauff now has a chance to make history by potentially becoming only the second player to win both the Beijing and Wuhan titles in the same year, a feat last achieved by Caroline Garcia in 2017.
