Coco Gauff overtakes Yuliia Starodubtseva to reach China Open semifinals

BEIJING – Sixth-seeded Coco Gauff got off to another slow start and had to rally to beat Ukrainian qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 and reach the semifinals of the China Open on Thursday.

Gauff will next face Spain's Paula Badosa, who previously ended the unexpected title win of Zhang Shuai, a wildcard player.

The 115th-ranked Starodubtseva had not lost a set in her three matches this week and quickly took the lead, making it 10 wins and holding Gauff to zero in an error-filled first set from the American.

Gauff also lost the first set against Naomi Osaka in the preliminary round before Osaka withdrew due to a lower back injury. Gauff helped carry Osaka's bags off the field.

Former US Open champion Gauff had to find an answer against Starodubtseva and saved two break points in her first service game of the second set. A break of serve gave Gauff a 3-1 lead.

After another narrow escape on her next service game, Gauff only lost three games for the rest of the match.

Zhang Shuai's drought-free week came to a shocking end as Badosa continued their own resurgence with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) win in the quarterfinals.

The Spaniard has won 28 of her last 35 games since May and reached the semi-finals in three of her last five tournaments. There was also a run to the quarterfinals of the US Open last month.

But the story of the week was the 35-year-old Zhang, who entered the China Open on a 24-match losing streak – the second-longest in the Open era – and was ranked 595th. She didn't lose a set of games in four games this week.

However, the Chinese wildcard had no answer to Badosa's fast start as the Spaniard made three service breaks and confidently took the first set.

Things got much closer in the second set as Badosa trailed 1-3. She collected everything and beat Zhang in the tiebreak.