\n<\/p>\n
Gauff was pushed to three sets by Leylah Fernandez in the third round, then rallied for a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Belinda Bencic — beating both opponents for the third time this year. A straight-sets win over Eva Lys sent the 21-year-old defending champion into her 11th<\/sup>\u00a0WTA 1000 semifinal.<\/p>\n No. 3 Amanda Anisimova was a 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4 winner over No. 6 Jasmine Paolini, her second straight three-set comeback.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the first WTA 1000 semifinal between two Americans outside North America in 21 years.<\/p>\n The head-to-head is 1-all, with Gauff winning four years ago on the clay in Parma and Anisimova returning the favor three years ago at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be another really tough challenge against Coco,\u201d Anisimova said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to play an American for the first time here. It\u2019s going to be a fun one.\u201d<\/p>\n We investigate the strengths of each player:<\/p>\n She absolutely loves it in Beijing.<\/p>\n No one else has ever won 14 of their first 15 matches at the China Open. That\u2019s one better than Grand Slam champions Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova, who all went 13-for-15.<\/p>\n Over the past three seasons, Gauff has won 17 matches in China, a total she shares with native Zheng Qinwen.<\/p>\n Those back-to-back three-setters underline Gauff\u2019s tenacity and problem-solving skills.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of fight, I think, for sure,\u201d Gauff said Thursday. \u201cI had to get through [Fernandez] barely. Then the same with Belinda. Honestly in the tiebreak, I got a little bit lucky hitting a let cord on one of those points.<\/p>\n \u201cI was able to close it out on my serve, which is important for me I think for the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n The possibilities of the short run are intriguing. While Gauff\u2019s serve is a work in progress, she has a big edge in movement. And then there\u2019s her return game. Against Paolini, Anisimova won exactly 45 percent of her first- and second-serve returns and break-point opportunities. Gauff\u2019s numbers were: 50, 58 and 56 percent.<\/p>\n She\u2019s three years younger than Anisimova but has accrued more experience in these big matches. She already has 22 WTA 1000 wins this year, eight more than Anisimova. This is Gauff\u2019s 11th<\/sup>\u00a0career WTA 1000 semifinal (Anisimova has three) and she\u2019s looking to reach her third final of the year — and her third 1000 title in three years.<\/p>\n \u201cThese next two matches, obviously the further you go, the harder it\u2019s going to get,\u201d Gauff said of her chances to repeat in Beijing. \u201cIn my next round I have two [potential] quality opponents. It\u2019s going to be a fight for that.\u201d<\/p>\n Momentum. You can\u2019t see it, but it\u2019s real.<\/p>\n With her victory over Paolini — the second comeback win over a Top 10 player in her career — Anisimova guaranteed herself a spot in the field at the PIF WTA Finals in Riyadh.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be my first time there,\u201d Anisimova said. \u201cA lot of new experiences for me this year, so I\u2019m sure I\u2019m going to have some really great memories there and do really well.\u201d<\/p>\n First, there\u2019s the matter of Beijing, where she dropped the first set against Paolini and Karolina Muchova, two quality opponents, and came back to win. And the last two sets against those gifted players weren\u2019t particularly close. They represented Anisimova\u2019s 11th<\/sup>\u00a0and 12th<\/sup>\u00a0three-set wins of the year; including retirements, only Madison Keys (16) has more. Anisimova and Gauff have each notched seven Top 10 wins this year — only Sabalenka (10) and Swiatek (eight) have more.<\/p>\nThe case for Gauff<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The case for Anisimova<\/strong><\/h3>\n