Beijing | Boulter kicks off her China Open marketing campaign with a win

On Friday British No 1 Katie Boulter kicked off her China Open marketing campaign with a convincing win over Taylor Townsend after Zhang Shuai surprised US Open semi-finalist Emma Navarro in straight units within the 2nd-round, and Jessica Pagula, Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka as scored wins.

I believe [Boulter’s] been a very new participant this 12 months. She’s taking part in some nice tennis, so it is going to be a tricky match. I am going to simply attempt to keep strong the entire time. Coco Gauff

Boulter, who was taking part in her first match since making a disappointing 2nd-round exit from the US Open in August, beat Townsend, 6-4 6-4, to arrange a contest with Coco Gauff, the 4th seed, who met France’s Clara Burel in her opener later within the day.

Failing to take 3 break factors within the opening recreation of the match, Boulter instantly misplaced her personal serve to fall behind in opposition to Townsend.

Overcoming her sluggish begin, she lastly capitalised on a 4th probability within the seventh recreation to get again on serve, and adopted this up by breaking Townsend once more earlier than calmly closing out the set on her personal supply.

Boulter saved her foot on the fuel all through the second, maintaining the stress on Townsend’s serve, and was lastly rewarded with a break within the ninth recreation, lastly changing to take a 5-4 lead.

Demonstrating poise in the important thing moments, the twenty sixth seed had no downside closing out, ending the match with a robust forehand winner to advance in an hour and 34 minutes.

Having acquired a 1st-round bye due to her seeding, Boulter ended the match taking simply 3 of 12 break factors.

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Coco Gauff confirmed in Beijing that Matt Daly has change into her new coach, after not too long ago splitting with Brad Gilbert after a 14-month partnership throughout which she received the US Open in 2023, however she had suffered a notable dip in kind this summer time.

Daly has joined forces with J.C Farrell to assist coach the 20-year-old for the remainder of the season and into subsequent 12 months.

“I’m actually excited,” mentioned Gauff to the WTA . “I believe that is most likely what it is going to appear to be subsequent 12 months too. I’m tremendous excited for a brand new change and hopefully to enhance different elements of my recreation.

“Working with Brad was actually nice and, clearly, we had an ideal partnership. I believe it was simply time to do a reset, a refresh, and add some issues in my recreation that I felt like I have to do to have a greater season subsequent 12 months.”

The American prevailed in her opening match, holding off Burel, 7-5 6-3, to arrange her assembly with Boulter.

In her first match since a 4th-round loss to Emma Navarro in her US Open title defence, Gauff recorded a 100-minute win over the World No 56, saving a set level at 5-4 within the first set earlier than advancing.

“Clara, she’s robust to play,” Gauff mentioned after her win. “I performed her at Indian Wells this 12 months; it’s a tricky match however completely happy to get by way of.

“I believe I stayed aggressive the entire match, even after I was making some errors. However I believe that is the way in which I’ve to play, and I do know as I proceed to get extra comfy, that may get higher.”

Each made common forays to the web, and it was Gauff who constructed an preliminary 4-2 lead, however Burel received the following 3 video games and arrived at her set level at 5-4.

The Frenchwoman, although, misfired on her probability, sending a volley out on the finish of a rally, and Gauff escaped hazard with a break for 5-5.

At 6-5, Gauff wanted 4 set factors of her personal earlier than clinching the opening set, breaking serve with an error-forcing backhand.

Within the second, the American moved forward for good after Burel double-faulted down break level at 4-3.

Serving for the win at 5-3, Gauff evaded 2 break factors, and he or she reached match level with an ace earlier than closing out the win after Burel’s backhand discovered the web.

Racking up 17 break factors within the match, Gauff transformed 5, whereas she fired 20 winners to Burel’s 13, denying the Frenchwoman her second profession Prime 10 win.

Gauff and Boulter have cut up their 2 earlier conferences, with Boulter successful in 3 units at WTA 500 Melbourne in 2021, and Gauff taking a straight-sets win at WTA 1000 Montreal final 12 months.

“I believe [Boulter’s] been a very new participant this 12 months,” Gauff mentioned. “She’s taking part in some nice tennis, so it’s going to be a tricky match. I’ll simply attempt to keep strong the entire time.”

Wild-card Zhang Shuai received her second match in a row when she upset Emma Navarro, the sixth seed, on the WTA 1000 in Beijing

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Simply 2 days after ending her 24-match shedding streak, Zhang received her second match in a row, breaking her 603-day drought with out a singles win since January 2023.

The Chinese language wild-card, ranked 595, did it in some type, upsetting Emma Navarro, the sixth seed from the USA, 6-4 6-2, to proceed her fairytale run in entrance of of her house crowd.

“I believe that that is the right timing. My first win at a WTA match was 15 years in the past at China Open, after which the following day I beat the No.1 participant]. Possibly God has a plan,” Zhang informed WTA Insider.

The previous World No 22 had managed to beat American McCartney Kessler, 7-6(5) 7-6(1), avoiding setting a brand new document for probably the most consecutive losses on the WTA Tour, earlier than taking down 22-year outdated Navarro.

Zhang’s win comes on the 15-year anniversary of her first profession Prime 10 win, when she surprised top-ranked Dinara Safina from Russia within the 2nd-round of the China Open in 2009.

She now has 9 profession Prime 10 wins to her identify, 8 on onerous courts, 6 in Asia and 4 in China, the 4 in China coming in Beijing.

Seemingly, the 35-year-old routinely beat the American, however, the truth is, the World No 8 didn’t take her probabilities and didn’t convert, permitting Zhang to feed off the power of the Chinese language followers to safe her first Prime 10 win since 2022 Tokyo.

Navarro earned an early break and opened a 2-0 lead, however, after making a really sluggish begin, Zhang responded with back-to-back breaks, and received the following 4 video games to overturn the deficit and go 4-2 up.

The American received herself again on monitor within the eighth recreation to stage the opener at 4 video games apiece, however blew her probability after dropping serve once more within the following recreation, and Zhang made no mistake sealing the primary set after changing her first set level on her personal serve.

Down a set, this 12 months’s US Open semi-finalist had a golden alternative to open up an early lead within the second, however didn’t seize any of her 3 consecutive break factors within the 4th recreation.

After Zhang survived that, Navarro unravelled because the Chinese language collected breaks within the fifth and seventh video games on her option to capping off the match on a 5-game successful run.

“No person cared what number of matches I misplaced as a result of everyone mentioned you play so properly,” Zhang mentioned. “After I got here again, I performed Daria Saville at Miami. After the match, she mentioned you’re nonetheless on the high, even higher than earlier than once you had been ranked within the Prime 30. So preserve taking part in, the win will come.

“I’ve loads of motivational emotions from my mates as a result of I really feel everyone is my buddy. I don’t really feel they’re my opponents. Should you play good, I’m completely happy for you. However you additionally present me how a lot I can enhance. We encourage one another.

“That’s the massive household within the WTA Tour. I prefer it. That’s why I proceed to maintain taking part in,” she added.

The previous No 22 is projected to rise from her present rating of 595 again into the Prime 450 when the brand new WTA rankings are launched after the match.

Subsequent up for Zhang is Greet Minnen, the World No 94 from Belgium, who battled previous Russian Anastasia Potapova, the twenty eighth seed, 7-5 2-6 6-4, to document the tenth Prime 50 win of her profession, 6 of which have are available 2024.

2nd seed Jessica Pegula received her first match for the reason that US Open closing in opposition to Diane Parry on Friday on the China Open

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In a while Day 3, Jessica Pegula, the 2nd-seeded American, held off Diane Parry from France, 6-1 7-6(4), coming from 1-3 down within the second set.

Taking part in her first match for the reason that US Open closing, Pegula, who withdrew from Seoul final week as a result of a rib damage, notched up her sixteenth win in her final 18 matches.

After a one-sided first set, Pegula needed to survive a nail-biting second during which the Frenchwoman pushed her all the way in which, however, in the end, the American managed to reel off the final 5 factors of the match from 2-4 down within the tiebreak.

Pegula will subsequent face No 32 seed Veronika Kudermetova from Russia, who got here by way of a 3-set thriller to disclaim Chinese language No 3 Wang Xinyu, 3-6 6-4 7-5 in 2 hours and 42 minutes.

A no-frills Naomi Osaka, who got here from a set right down to upset Yulia Putintseva, the No 21 seed, is now working with Patrick Mouratoglou

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Naomi Osaka received back-to-back matches for the primary time since June when she rallied from a set right down to defeat Yulia Putintseva, the No 21 seed of Kazakhstan, her first come-back win in properly over 2 years that indicators a profitable begin to her new teaching partnership with French coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

The previous World No 1 dropped the opener however managed to battle again, due to a composed show, to win 3-6 6-4 6-2 and preserve her marketing campaign alive within the Chinese language capital.

“I simply informed myself to maintain going,” mentioned the Japanese in her post-match interview. “I travelled all the way in which right here and it could be a bit of injustice to myself to not strive as onerous as I can. I simply tried to dig deep.

“[I have] completely zero expectations – I believe I’m taking part in only one match at a time. I’m actually grateful to be right here and I hope that I’m in a position to win much more matches.”

Osaka subsequent faces an intriguing third spherical contest in opposition to American Katie Volynets, who shocked 14th seed Marta Kostyuk from Ukraine, 7-5 6-3.

The Japanese is 73 within the WTA Rankings, however already strikes up 11 locations to No 62 within the Reside Rankings following her opening two wins in Beijing, and will but climb additional.

Victory over Volynets would push the Japanese again up into the Prime 60, whereas a return to the Prime 30 is feasible with a run to the title.

In the meantime, No 12 seed Diana Shnaider from Russia wanted simply 68 minutes to race previous America’s Sofia Kenin, 6-2 6-3, and subsequent meets Poland’s Magdalena Frech, the twenty third seed, who battled previous one other American, qualifier Alycia Parks, 6-4 5-7 6-4.

Ukrainian qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva posted the primary Prime 50 win of her profession after dropping simply 4 video games to Twenty seventh-seed Katerina Siniakova from Czech Republic, 6-2 6-2.

Starodubtseva strikes on to satisfy Elina Avanesyan of Armenia, who recovered from shedding the second set to upset No 33 seed Caroline Dolehide from the USA, 6-3 5-7 6-2.

Spain’s Paula Badosa, the fifteenth seed, simply handed a check posed by Viktoriya Tomova, 6-3 6-2, enhancing her document in opposition to the Bulgarian to 2-0.

Her subsequent opponent, Rebecca Sramkova, the Hua Hin 2 champion, upset No 22 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia to win her ninth match in a row, and now has additionally received 13 of her previous 14 matches.

The Slovakian qualifier, who got here from a set right down to win 5-7 6-4 6-3, scored her 4th Prime 50 win of 2024.