Coco Gauff’s winning streak in China is still alive after a thunderous 6-4, 6-1 victory over Marta Kostyuk in the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open Round of 16 on Thursday.

Wuhan:  Scores | Schedule | Draws

No.4 seed Gauff bested 13th-seeded Kostyuk in just 61 minutes of play to earn her eighth straight win on tour. Gauff clinched her eighth career WTA singles title last week at the WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing, returning to World No.4 on Monday in the process.

Gauff still has the chance to become only the second player to win both Beijing and Wuhan in the same year since that WTA 1000 combo came into effect in 2014. Caroline Garcia won both of those titles in 2017.

Thursday’s victory was also Gauff’s 70th career match-win at WTA 1000 events. The 20-year-old American becomes the youngest player to hit that number since the WTA 1000 tier started in 2009. She is only the fourth player to reach that milestone before turning 23, joining Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Swiatek.

Against Kostyuk, Gauff reigned supreme on return, converting all five of the break points she gathered while only dropping serve once, in the second game of the match.

After a relatively tight first set, Gauff leveled up in the second, where she won 26 of the 35 points. Kostyuk was partially undone by double faults at inopportune moments; she had four in the contest, including on match point.

Gauff’s quarterfinal opponent will be World No.45 Magda Linette of Poland. Linette notched a quick victory of her own on Thursday by dismissing No.8 seed Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-3 in 72 minutes, earning the 14th Top 20 win of her career.

Gauff battled past Linette in their only previous meeting, which was a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win for the American in the first round of the 2021 US Open.

More to come…