Coco Gauff made a shockingly slow start to her Beijing quarterfinal against a qualifier ranked outside the top-100 but managed to recover and avoid a shock loss.
Although the No. 4 seed entered the match as the absolute favorite, it was world No. 115 Starodubtseva who easily won the first set with a 6-2 scoreline.
After firing a stunning seven double faults during the opener, the American tennis star managed to consolidate and complete a 2-6 6-2 6-2 comeback win.
During the entire summer, Gauff struggled with her serve. And early in the match against the Ukrainian, it definitely resembled some of her performances over the last couple of months and looked like she may be primed for another shock defeat.
But fortunately for the 20-year-old, she was able to bounce back – don’t lose any service games in the second and third sets – and book a Beijing semifinal meeting versus Paula Badosa, who ousted Zhang Shuai 6-1 7-6 (4).
How Gauff came back to beat Starodubtseva?
During the first set, the fourth-seeded American faced break points in every one of her service games – she dropped her serve three times while in one game she managed to save four break points. While the world No. 6 managed to get one break in…
