Indian Wells: Aryna Sabalenka storms past Coco Gauff into semi-finals with straight-sets victory
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Published 15/03/2023 at 22:02 GMT
World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka carved out a dominant win over Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals of Indian Wells. Sabalenka’s powerful groundstrokes saw her on the front foot for most of the match and Gauff struggled to do anything about it, suffering a bagel in the second set. Next up for Sabalenka will be Maria Sakkari or Petro Kvitova in the last four on Thursday in California.
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Aryna Sabalenka stormed into the semi-finals of Indian Wells after beating home favourite Coco Gauff 6-4 6-0.
Sabalenka played some superb tennis as Gauff made some crucial mistakes and couldn’t do anything about the power of the Australian Open champion.
Maria Sakkari or Petra Kvitova await Sabalenka in the last four on Thursday.
“You guys wanted to send me home, I know!” Sabalenka joked to the crowd after the match.
“It was a tough match, she’s a great player and I’m just super happy with the win. I want to stay here as long as I can just to enjoy the atmosphere.
“I believe in myself and know I have to bring my best game, do everything I can no matter what and that’s a great feeling. Hopefully I can keep it up.”
Sabalenka came flying out of the blocks as she took advantage of some unforced errors from Gauff to break immediately.
She nearly made it a double break in the third game, however Gauff was fortunate when a wayward backhand clipped the net and bounced in.
From there, Gauff improved and found her stride but couldn’t put any pressure in her opponent’s serve.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka’s groundstrokes after her serve meant she held relatively comfortably and she took the first set 6-4 after 40 minutes.
In a repeat of the second set, Sabalenka made a break to love which visibly put Gauff on the back foot.
Everything the world No. 2 did was with authority and aggression as she got the double break and was soon 4-0 up.
All the momentum was with Sabalenka and a third break was the final blow as she went on to complete a bagel in the second set to advance into the last four at Indian Wells for the first time.
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