Iga Swiatek has shared her thoughts ahead of the WTA
China Open semi-final where she will clash with
Coco Gauff.
The second seed has had a successful run so far at the WTA 1000 tournament, defeating Sara Sorribes Tomo, Varvara Gracheva, and Magda Linette in straight sets before surviving a three-set battle with ninth seed Caroline Garcia.
In doing so, Swiatek made it through to the semi-finals at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, and her opponent was soon confirmed to be third seed Gauff. The American overcame some closely contested matches against Ekaterina Alexandrova, Petra Martic, and Veronika Kudermetova before storming past sixth seed Maria Sakkari in the quarter-final.
Swiatek preparing for tricky match against Gauff
The Polish player leads their head-to-head by a wide margin of 7-1, having defeated Gauff at the Dubai Tennis Championships and the French Open earlier this year. However, the 19-year-old achieved her first win against the former World No. 1 at their most recent meeting, which took place at the Cincinnati Open - a WTA 1000 tournament that Gauff went on to win - back in August.
This is just one demonstration of how the American player has been fulfilling her potential as of late. Shortly after her victory in Cincinnati, she went on to win her first Grand Slam title at the US Open and has now built up a 16-match winning streak with a deep run in Beijing.
Meanwhile, Swiatek has been struggling a little recently as she failed to defend her title at Flushing Meadows, instead suffering a fourth-round loss to Jelena Ostapenko.
Ahead of their clash, the 22-year-old admitted that the match would be tougher than many of their previous encounters but that she would do her best to not overthink things.
"I haven't seen her [Gauff] much, but I'm aware of what she's doing. I also know how she plays, what has improved, and what has changed. I'll use that information and not overanalyze it too much because I think we're both good players.
"Now we just have to fight and it probably won't be an easy match. It will be tight," she said via Beijing Press.
