Top seed Gauff rolls into Auckland semi-finals; Bonaventure upsets Fernandez

The top seed is through to the semi-finals without losing a set

Photosport/Panoramic

January 6, 2023

Coco Gauff looks to be finding form at exactly the right time.

The 18-year-old routed Zhu Lin of China 6-3, 6-2 at the ASB Classic in Auckland on Friday, hitting eight aces and not facing a single break point as she wrapped up victory over the world No 84 in 75 minutes to take her place in the semi-finals.

Yet to drop a set!@CocoGauff is through to a ninth career semifinal defeating Zhu 6-3, 6-2#ASBClassic pic.twitter.com/epPkWowpDn
— wta (@WTA) January 6, 2023

Zhu had upset former world No 1 Venus Williams in the previous round, but world No 7 and top seed Gauff was a cut above as she raced through to the last four and a meeting with Danka Kovinic, revelling in the fast indoor conditions after yet more rain forced the players inside.

First WTA semi-final for Bonaventura

Ysaline Bonaventure of France pulled off the upset of the day, beating former US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals of a WTA event for the first time.

“I’ve been serving very well,” Bonaventure said, according to the WTA Tour’s official website. “From the back I was trying to be as aggressive as possible and stay as consistent as possible. I knew she’s an aggressive player, so I managed to do that today.”

ASB Classic quarter-final results:

Coco Gauff (1) beat Lin Zhu 6-3, 6-2
Danka Kovinic beat Viktoria Kuzmova 6-3, 6-2
Ysaline Bonaventure beat Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-2
Rebeka Masarova beat Karolina Muchova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2)