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.
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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 6-3 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).
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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 the opener, it was far from enough for her to even come close to winning the opener.
At the start of the second set, the former world No. 2 was on the verge of finding herself down by a set and a break but she avoided that after saving two break points in the first game. Starodubtseva then paid the price for not taking the American's serve when she had a chance as the 2023 US Open champion collected breaks in the fourth and eighth games to force a decider.
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After breaking the qualifier twice to win the second set, Gauff did the same in the third set to complete her comeback victory in an hour and 51 minutes of play.
