WTA Finals: Gauff defeats Paolini in straight sets to stay in title hunt

Riyadh (Spain), Nov 4 Defending champion Coco Gauff kept alive her hopes of reaching the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over No.8 seed Jasmine Paolini in a Group stage match of the WTA Finals, the year-end championships.

While Paolini was eliminated from the Stefanie Graf Group because she lost in straight sets, Gauff (1-1) must wait for the conclusion of the later match between No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 5 Jessica Pegula to learn what scenarios will deliver her to the semifinals.

Paolini was ill in advance of the tournament, and never once looked to be her perky, upbeat self.

In her opening three-set loss to Pegula, Gauff served 17 double faults and nine breaks, and her forehand (45 unforced errors) were all over the place. Against Paolini, she was far more buttoned down.

Gauff suffered only three double faults and won 35 of her 50 service points. She was particularly sharp, winning 15 of 19 second-serve points. She has now produced 33 career Top 10 wins in her young career.

Gauff was thrilled to put that opening match behind her. “I’m really happy with how I was able to turn it around,” Gauff said afterwards. “Only three double faults -- 17 is a big difference. It just shows I can serve like this.

It was the second straight appearance at the WTA Finals for Paolini. Her singles record is 1-4, but she and partner Sara Errani are still alive as the top seeds in doubles.

Overall, Paolini came in with better recent results, winning three of four matches against Gauff -- all earlier this year. However, Gauff prevailed in straight sets last month in the Wuhan semifinal on her way to the title.

Gauff broke in Paolini’s first service game and had run off eight consecutive points when she fell into a love-40 hole. But instead of giving in and allowing the Italian back on serve, Gauff played some patient defense and won the game’s last five points to take a 3-0 lead.

But Paolini gradually worked her way into the match. She actually had three chances to level it at 4-all, but Gauff won five straight points to take a definitive 5-3 lead.

The second set began quietly and stayed on serve until the fifth game, when Gauff scored her third break of the match. Gauff came back to do it again in the seventh.

At 21, Gauff is the youngest player in the singles field. She’ll meet World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in a final round-robin match on Thursday that could determine whether she advances to the semifinals.

Gauff has won 11 of the 14 finals she’s played at the Hologic WTA Tour level, a statistic that Faurel was quick to cite as evidence of her ability in the clutch.

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