Experienced tour veteran Laura Siegemund gets off to another strong start, but her top opponent Coco Gauff finds the right answers.
Great effort not enough for another surprise: Laura Siegemund missed out on a place in the semifinals at the WTA tournament in Wuhan. The 37-year-old from Metzingen lost 3-6, 0-6 to two-time Grand Slam winner Coco Gauff from the USA on Friday. Nevertheless, Siegemund’s strong run remains a success.
The experienced fighter, who caused a sensation at Wimbledon with her quarterfinal run, moves into the top 40 in the world rankings by reaching the last eight. Siegemund has not been ranked this high for eight years, and at the same time she is once again the German number one ahead of Tatjana Maria and Eva Lys.
The Swabian had already made her mark with her round of 16 victory over Poland’s Magdalena Frech. At 37 years and 216 days, she was the fourth-oldest player to reach the quarterfinals of this format since the introduction of the WTA 1000 tournaments in 1990. Only US icons Martina Navratilova and the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, had been older.
Siegemund got off to a perfect start against Gauff with an early break, but the favorite quickly countered. Siegemund fought back courageously in the baseline duels and challenged Gauff with drop shots, but the athletic French Open winner took control in the middle of the first set and pulled away.
Siegemund took a short break after losing the set in the heat and then wanted to attack again. But Gauff was too focused in the match and punished her challenger’s increasing errors.
