COCO GAUFF TO HER FANS: “With your support and prayers, WE can lift another cup in Wuhan”… COCO was speaking at a gathering of…

American tennis star Coco Gauff stormed to the semi-finals of the Wuhan Open on Friday with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Magda Linette, her 50th WTA main draw win of the year.

Gauff, who won the China Open last week for her second WTA Tour title of the season, saved all five break points she faced in the match, four of which came in the first set.

She also won 14 of 21 return points in the first set as Linette, the Polish former Australian Open semi-finalist, fell to a bagel.

In the second set, Linette fought hard but Gauff won 12 of 14 points at a critical point to set herself up for victory. Trailing 3-2, Gauff held at love, broke Linette at 15, and held again to 15 to put herself one game away from victory.

Gauff then wrapped up the match in an hour and 24 minutes, extending her winning streak to nine matches.

In the semi-finals, the 2023 U.S. Open champion will face either No.1 seed and reigning U.S. Open winner Aryna Sabalenka or another Polish player, Magdalena Frech.

I’m really happy with how I played,” Gauff said after the match. “Obviously a smooth first set. I had chances to maybe close it out in the 5-3 game in the second, but happy I was able to close it out on my serve,” she added.

Following Friday’s straightforward victory, Gauff became the third American to reach the singles semi-finals in Wuhan following Venus Williams in 2015 and Alison Riske-Amritraj in 2019.

The win marked 50 match wins for Gauff for the second straight season, as the 22-year-old became just the third player to do so on the WTA Tour this year after World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and World No. 2 Sabalenka.

World No. 4 Gauff is also the youngest player to secure 50 or more WTA main-draw wins (which this year includes two victories at the Olympics) in back-to-back seasons since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009-10, according to the WTA.