PREVIEW WTA China Open Semi-Finals: Noskova aims to upset potential all-American final as Gauff, Pegula and Anisimova in contention

We are into the final days at the WTA China Open and it is three Americans remaining and one Czech star who will hope to upset the odds and stop an all-American final in its tracks.

Amanda Anisimova opens up against Coco Gauff in a hotly anticipated clash while Jessica Pegula will face Linda Noskova, the surprise package at the China Open. The defending champion is still here but will it be an American that wins? High probability but Noskova is known for giant killing and for producing when it matters. So can she do so again?

First up on Saturday morning is Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff in a match that by some junctures has been called too close to call with both having some of the best backhands in the game no mind women's but in tennis in general.

It has also been three years since the American pairing have met so in reality there is no real way to ascertain how it will really go. Gauff was pushed to three sets in the third round by Leylah Fernandez and from there she rallied for a 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 win over Belinda Bencic. It was a third win over both this year for Gauff.

But the 21-year-old perhaps had her biggest test after that albeit not in stature but in form and also unpredictability as she faced the red hot German Eva Lys. A player improving all the time, she had previously seen off Elena Rybakina, Iva Jovic and McCartney Kessler. In the former two of course it was a former Grand Slam champion and the 17-year-old rising American who became one of the latest new winners on tour just last month.

Gauff though rose to that in straight sets as she saw off Lys. it is the first WTA 1000 semi-final outside the country in 21 years.

Amanda Anisimova has booked her spot in Riyadh at the WTA Finals such has been her exceptional year. She has reached back-to-back Grand Slam finals and won a WTA 1000. She has not been disheartened either by those Grand Slam losses and returned this week back to her best again.

She was a 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 winner over Jasmine Paolini in what was a second straight three-set comeback. She had also seen off Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 as well as Shuai Zhang and Katie Boulter before that fairly comfortably.

“It’s going to be another really tough challenge against Coco,” Anisimova said. “I’m excited to play an American for the first time here. It’s going to be a fun one.”

She also spoke about making it to Riyadh for the first time. “It’s going to be my first time there. A lot of new experiences for me this year, so I’m sure I’m going to have some really great memories there and do really well.”

The head-to-head is 1-1 with Gauff winning four years ago on the clay in Parma. Anisimova like Gauff was a prodigious talent but she has changed a lot like Gauff and not only as a player but as a person and has grown a lot especially in the last 18 months when it looked perhaps like she wasn't going to return to the sport.

But the sport is better for her in it and the same can be said for Gauff at her best who is defending champion and playing well this week even without her new coach Gavin MacMillan here, a new hire and new enough that he couldn't make this week. But she has still made it this far.

“It’s been a lot of fight, I think, for sure,” Gauff said Thursday. “I had to get through [Fernandez] barely. Then the same with Belinda. Honestly in the tiebreak, I got a little bit lucky hitting a let cord on one of those points. I was able to close it out on my serve, which is important for me I think for the long run.”

Gauff has to go in as favourite despite Anisimova's recent form. She is the defending champion albeit this is said with a pinch of salt and could really go either way.

Onto the second semi-final. Jessica Pegula hilariously was referred to as the Chinese version of being very rich in a poke at her billionaire roots in a match with Emma Navarro who was called second most rich and she poked fun at it.

But she will be laughing if she manages to win this week. She started the tournament with a comfortable straight sets win over Ajla Tomljanovic in Round Two. Since then, she has sealed a hat-trick of three set thrillers to reach this spot in the tournament.

She saw off Emma Raducanu. Not an easy feat nowadays with the Brit very much finding her own after many years of being the nearly woman after her Grand Slam triumph. Marta Kostyuk and Emma Navarro followed and there was a common theme with all of her wins.

When she got past a storm, she managed to then ease through in the final set losing just two games in last sets over the past three games despite all going the distance so it is finding the keys early doors and managing to put the foot on the accelerator when she reaches the biting point.

Next is Linda Noskova. She could make it into the top 20 this week and in reality will be the big outsider mainly given that she has only played one seed this week. She defeated Zheng Qinwen and lastly saw off Sonay Kartal in straight sets herself having a great week. She has reached two semi-finals this year though in Abu Dhabi and Bad Homburg and won Prague so while she isn't troubling the big names week in week out, it is very much a good score sheet for her.

They have played twice this year with Pegula winning in Bad Homburg en route to the final she claimed it 6-7, 7-5, 6-1 while Noskova won it in two 6-3, 7-6 in Dubai. So the key for Noskova is weathering that late storm and finding a way to win in straight sets.

Or it very much plays into Pegula's hands. Either way two cracking semi-finals await in Beijing.