Coco Gauff pretty much said that Amanda Anisimova gave her a zero chance of doing anything on the court, and even compared the 24-year-old's level to Aryna Sabalenka.
When No. 2 seed Gauff and third-seeded Anisimova set up an all-American semifinal at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, the expectation was that it would be a tight battle and likely a real showdown. But it quickly turned into a one-sided battle after the No. 3 seed opened a 5-0 lead and went on to register a dominant 6-1 6-2 victory in just 58 minutes of play.
In each set, Gauff was 5-0 down, and she is probably lucky to have avoided a bagel. Later in her presser, the two-time Grand Slam champion didn't want to sugarcoat anything about her display, admitting that she was completely outplayed by her rival.
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Gauff: I couldn't do anything... Anisimova and Sabalenka are tough when they are playing that level of tennis
She played well. I felt like I couldnt really have a chance of getting a rhythm out there. But a learning experience for the next time... I mean, shes definitely one of the best out of those Ive played. Yeah, for sure, she and Aryna are tough when theyre playing that level of tennis. I felt like today, no matter what I did, I just couldnt get into the match. So yeah, Im going to take this and learn from it," the reigning French Open champion said of Anisimova.
For Gauff, it was her first Beijing loss since 2023. Last year, the American tennis star won six matches to land her maiden China Open title. This year, she won four additional matches to improve her Beijing winning streak to 10, before it was ended by Anisimova.
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Gauff now turns her focus to another WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan, where she is the No. 3 seed and has a first-round bye. She made the Wuhan semifinal last year.
