INDIAN WELLS, NOV 11 (IANS): Linda Noskova continued her impressive debut campaign at the WTA Finals by becoming the first player to secure a semifinal berth after defeating Coco Gauff in straight sets during Group 1 action.
The young Czech star produced a dominant display to register a 6-3, 6-3 victory in just 75 minutes, improving her record to 2-0 in the round-robin stage. The win made Noskova the youngest player to reach the semifinals in her first WTA Finals appearance since Petra Kvitova in 2011. She also became the youngest player since Gauff in 2024 to win her opening two round-robin matches and the first No. 8 seed since Anett Kontaveit in 2021 to achieve the feat.
Noskova’s aggressive returning proved decisive as she broke Gauff’s serve five times, including four breaks in the opening set. She converted five of her nine break-point opportunities and won 75 percent of the points on Gauff’s second serve. Establishing early control, Noskova raced to 4-1 leads in both sets and never looked back.
The victory marked her sixth win over a top-10 opponent this season and further underlined her rise following her maiden Grand Slam triumph at Wimbledon in July. Despite the defeat, Gauff remains in contention for a place in the semifinals. The American will face Marta Kostyuk in her final group-stage match and must win to keep her hopes alive. Gauff is aiming to become the youngest player since Maria Sharapova in 2006 to reach three WTA Finals semifinals.
Meanwhile, Jessica Pegula stayed firmly in the race for qualification with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Marta Kostyuk in one hour and 29 minutes. After a demanding opening match against Gauff, Pegula delivered a composed performance to claim her first win of the tournament. She will next face Noskova in a rematch of the Berlin final. Kostyuk’s second straight-set defeat ended her hopes of progressing to the knockout stage, leaving Noskova already through and the remaining qualification spots to be decided in the final round of group matches.
Errani-Paolini Reach Doubles Semifinals
In the doubles competition, Italian pair Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini became the first team to qualify for the semifinals after overcoming Cristina Bucsa and Nicole Melichar-Martinez in Group 2. The eighth-seeded Italians recovered from losing the opening set to secure a 3-6, 6-2, 10-7 victory in one hour and 29 minutes, extending their unbeaten run in the tournament to two matches. Having also defeated second seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova in their opening match, Errani and Paolini advanced to the knockout stage with one group encounter still remaining.
The result marked a significant achievement for the Italian duo, who had previously failed to progress beyond the round-robin stage in their two earlier appearances at the season-ending championship.
Earlier, Townsend and Siniakova kept their semifinal hopes alive with a 7-6(2), 6-3 win over Ellen Perez and Demi Schuurs in one hour and 38 minutes. The American-Czech partnership improved its perfect record against Perez and Schuurs this season to three victories from three meetings.
With both pairs holding identical 1-1 records, the final Group 2 clash between Townsend-Siniakova and Bucsa-Melichar-Martinez will decide the second semifinal berth. Perez and Schuurs, meanwhile, have been eliminated after suffering defeats in both of their group-stage matches, ending their hopes of reaching the last four.
