Gauff beats Anisimova to reach Emilia-Romagna semifinals

PARMA, Italy (AP) — Coco Gauff advanced to the semifinals of the Emilia-Romagna Open after beating Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday in a match between two American teenagers.

The 17-year-old Gauff, who last week reached the Italian Open semifinals for her career-best result on clay, came from 3-0 down in the second set.

“In the second set I was missing a lot of balls. In the first three games I think I lost seven or eight points in a row,” Gauff said. “And then I honestly just decided to go for bigger targets and focus on hitting the ball deeper instead of trying to hit winners.”

The third-seeded Gauff will next face Czech player Katerina Siniakova, who beat eighth-seeded Caroline Garcia 7-5, 6-1.

Siniakova eliminated Serena Williams on Tuesday.

Former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens also reached the semifinals by beating Sara Errani of Italy 6-3, 6-0.

Stephens will face sixth-seeded Qiang Wang, who upset second-seeded Petra Martić 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-5 in a match lasting three hours.

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