Staff Reporter.
Top seed Coco Gauff maintained her imperious form in the lead-up to the Australia Open by dismantling Emma Navarro 6-3, 6-1 in their Auckland Classic semifinal on Saturday.
Defending champion Gauff was unruffled by a short mid-match rain delay and had too many weapons for fourth seed Navarro in a contest that took just over an hour.
The 19-year-old has breezed through all four of her matches in New Zealand and is on track to repeat her feat of last year when she clinched the title without dropping a set all week.
The US Open champion struck 26 winners to six and said she knew what would be needed to beat her American compatriot.
“Just being aggressive, with my serve and my return,” she said.
“We played a practice set before the tournament started and she was playing really well so I knew it had to be my best game if I wanted to win.
“It’s definitely a good start to my 2024, Emma’s an incredible player.”
The world No 3 has impressed with the speed and power of her serve, an area she said was a focus during the off-season and which shapes as an important asset at the year’s first Grand Slam in Melbourne, starting on 15 January.
Gauff’s serve wasn’t broken by Navarro and she has been broken just three times across the tournament.
The second semifinal on Saturday was to be played between second-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina and the unseeded Wang Xiyu of China.