AMERICAN teenager Coco Gauff will contest the Emilia-Romagna Open final against Wang Qiang after the Chinese sixth seed took care of Gauff’s compatriot Sloane Stephens. Wang won 6-2 7-6 in the one-hour and 46-minute match to reach the Parma final, as Gauff had to bounce back from a shocking second set to win in three sets over Katerina Sinaikova in two hours and eight minutes, 7-5 1-6 6-2.

“It definitely gives me more experience, just the fact that I’ve been in a final before, so I know how the nerves feel, and I know how to handle it a little bit better,” Gauff said post-match. “Tomorrow, I’m just going to go out there and have fun.”

Gauff said playing Siniakova – which not only included losing the second set but going down 2-0 in he third – was difficult, before Gauff piled on six consecutive games to dominate the last part of the match and win 7-5 1-6 6-2.

“[Siniakova is] a super tricky player, she obviously had some great wins this week,” Gauff said. “To be honest, I just kind of hung in there, and although in the second set my level went down a little bit, I was glad that I was able to pick it up for the third.”

Wang had a lower serving efficiency than Stephens (59.7 to 75.3 per cent) but served one more ace (2-1) and was far more consistent on serve, with a 63 to 55.2 first serve winning percentage, and 5.48 to 36.8 second serve winning percentage. Still, Stephens raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second set, but Wang closed her down to win five of the next six games, force a tiebreaker and take out he match in straight sets.

Over in the Serbia Open, Paula Badosa remains the only seeded player in the final four, defeating seventh seed Rebecca Peterson in straight sets 6-2 6-3. The fourth seed Spaniard was far too good and continued her ripping 2021 form to book a spot in the final four. Also making their way through to the semi-finals were Croatian Ana Konjuh who has also been impressive this season, Colombian Maria Camila Osorio Serrano and Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova.

SERBIA LADIES OPEN QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[4] Paula Badosa (ESP) defeated [7] Rebecca Peterson (SWE) 6-2 6-4
Ana Konjuh (CRO) defeated [5] Nadia Podoroska (ARG) 6-4 6-3
Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (COL) defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) 6-4 6-2
Viktoriya Tomova (BUL) defeated Leylah Fernandez (CAN) 6-3 4-6 6-2

EMILIA-ROMAGNA OPEN SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

[3] Coco Gauff (USA) defeated Katerina Siniakova (CZE) 7-5 1-6 6-2
[6] Wang Qiang (CHN) Sloane Stephens (USA) 6-2 7-6

Picture credit: Marta Magni Images/MEF Tennis Events