Coco Gauff defeated Varvara Gracheva 6-1, 6-1 on Friday to continue her merciless defence of the Auckland Classic title. This victory advanced Gauff to the semi-finals, where she will face Emma Navarro, another American.
Expecting rain clouds to build, Gauff was eager to beat her French opponent quickly, and she did it in 52 minutes, setting up another dramatic match before the Australian Open. The US Open champion and current world number three is poised to duplicate her achievement of winning the title in Auckland last year without dropping a set.
The 19-year-old was particularly happy with her serving, conceding just 11 points against eighth seed Gracheva off her serve and not giving up a single break point.
"I thought I served really well, probably the best so far at this tournament, which is something I was really working on in the off-season," the top seed Gauff said.