Coco Gauff ends Eva Lys's dream run, moves one step closer to China Open title defense

Coco Gauff continues her perfect campaign to defend her China Open title after defeating Eva Lys with a score of 6-3, 6-4. The American showed her authority and greater experience against Lys, who was making her debut in the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 event.

The American had faced some difficulties in her previous matches against Leylah Fernandez and Belinda Bencic—both overcome in complicated three-set duels. However, against the 23-year-old Lys, things did not get too complicated for Gauff, who looks more favored than ever to take the title.

The American was facing debutante Lys, who had never reached this stage in a WTA 1000. Both started by defending their first service games—though not without difficulty. The first break went to the defending champion, who took the advantage in the 4th game (3-1). However, that was just the start of minutes of irregularity on both sides, with crossed breaks.

Lys managed two consecutive breaks but surrendered her service three times in a row—winning a poor 37% of points on her first serve. In what was a battle of breaks on both sides, it was Gauff's turn to serve at 5-3 with the chance to close the set, and she had to save a break point to take the lead 6-3 after 37 minutes. The American had landed 74% of her first serves, winning 65% of those points.

In the first set, Lys had already shown she had the tennis to compete with the two-time Grand Slam champion, and she began the second set commanding the services. The German isn't characterized by overwhelming power on her serve, but she is effective at taking control of the point from the start, thanks to good service variety.

Midway through the set, crossed breaks arrived again—Gauff moved ahead, and Lys quickly responded with a break back. However, the German conceded too many opportunities to her opponent, and Gauff secured her second consecutive break, taking the definitive lead. From there, the 2025 Roland Garros champion relied on her serve and showed her authority to close the match without too much fuss, winning 6-3, 6-4. The American had an incredible 79% first-serve rate throughout the match—and despite four double faults and several break opportunities given to her opponent—her serve was the element that allowed her to dominate play for most of the contest.

Gauff reached 10 consecutive wins at the China Open and moves into the semifinals of the tournament, where she still awaits her opponent, who will be decided between the 3rd seed Amanda Anisimova and the 6th seed Jasmine Paolini. Undoubtedly, it has been a good week for Gauff, who, without the presence of Iga Swiatek in the draw and the absence of Sabalenka, appears to have a clear path to repeat the title.

On the other side, Lys will advance 21 positions in the rankings to her career-best ranking as World No. 45, an excellent boost for this final part of the year for one of the most interesting newcomers of 2025.