Coco Gauff rolled into her fourth semifinal of 2023 with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Belinda Bencic on Friday night at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.
The third-seeded American needed just 1 hour and 28 minutes to knock out the No.6 seed advance to a showdown with No. 8 seed and defending champion Liudmila Samsonova, in the hunt for her second final of the season and first since she won the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand in the season’s opening week.
“I’m really happy with how I played today,” Gauff told reporters afterwards. “Belinda is not an easy player to play. I played all types of tennis. I was the aggressor in some moments. Some moments I was the defender.
“This definitely is probably one of the top matches that I have played. … I think with the caliber of player and the way I played, this is definitely one of the top ones.
“This is the tennis…