China Open: Coco Gauff breezes past Sakkari to earn 16th straight win and reach semi-finals

American Coco Gauff, the No 3 seed, reached the last four of the China Open by beating Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 6 seed, 6-2, 6-4 at National Tennis Center in Beijing.

It is the US Open champion’s 16th win in a row, and has set up a tantalising semi-final clash with Iga Swiatek, whom the American beat en route to her first Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati this summer.

Ahead of her victory, the 19-year-old American beat Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (7-5, 6-3), Croat Petra Martic (7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (2)) and Russian Veronika Kudermetova, the No 16 seed (7-6 (5), 6-2).

Sakkari, ranked No 6, won against Linda Fruhvirtova (6-4, 6-2) and Chinese Xinyu Wang (6-4, 2-6, 6-3) in the previous rounds of the Beijing tournament.

Beijing WTA 1000, other quarter-finals results (National Tennis Center, hard, USD 8.127.389, most recent results first):

• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Elena Rybakina
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Iga Swiatek beat Caroline Garcia (9): 6-7 (8), 7-6 (5), 6-1