BEIJING: Coco Gauff saved four set points before beating 16th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova 7-6 (5), 6-2 Thursday in the third round of the China Open.
The victory extended the third-ranked American’s winning streak to 15 matches, a span that includes the Cincinnati title and her U.S. Open victory last month. Gauff will next meet either sixth-seeded Maria Sakkari or local favourite Wang Xinyu in the quarterfinals.
Kudermetova led 5-4, 40-0 at the end of the first set. The 26-year-old Russian had four set points in that game but was unable to convert.
Earlier, ninth-seeded Caroline Garcia beat Anhelina Kalinina 6-3, 6-2 and will next play second-ranked Iga Swiatek.
Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka will play Jasmine Paolini later on Thursday.
Gregoire Barrere beat Nonu Borges 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the Shanghai Masters to set up a meeting with top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz.
Stefano Napolitano, who made the main draw after qualifying opponent Marc Polmans was defaulted for hitting the ball into the face of the chair umpire, lost to qualifier Beibit Zhukayev 7-5, 7-5.
Other winners included Rinky Hijikata, Lorenzo Sonego, Aleksander Vukic, Arthur Fils, Mikhail Kukushkin and Tseng Chun-hsin. Agencies
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