Second seed Aryna Sabalenka and seventh seed Maria Sakkari won their quarterfinal matches at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells Wednesday. The two have played seven times before, the Belarusian leads the head-to-head 4:3, but the Greek won the last two encounters.
Sabalenka defeats Coco Gauff 6-4 6-0
To reach the semifinal, Sabalenka defeated Coco Gauff 6-4 6-0 in just over an hour. The Belarusian started with a break in the first game, but the American found her way into the match and made for a competitive first set. In the second, Gauff did not have a single break point, and Sabalenka took the match on her first opportunity.
The 19-year-old Gauff had a winning record against Sabalenka, but noted a significantly stronger challenger today. After the defeat, the sixth seed told media, “She played really great tennis, and you can definitely see the improvement since the last time I played her. I think I just have to figure out a way how to combat that for the next time I play her.” More specifically, the teenager noted, “I think the biggest one is her serve. We already knew she had a great serve but the double faults less, and then her consistency has gotten a lot better.”
With how deep they’ve both been getting into tournaments, it certainly will not be long before…
