Coco Gauff juggles her racquet during her singles semi final match at the ASB Classic tennis tournament in Auckland. Photo: photosport
Top seed Coco Gauff maintained her imperious form in the leadup to the Australia Open by dismantling Emma Navarro 6-3, 6-1 in their Auckland Classic semi-final on Saturday.
World number three Gauff will seek to defend her title against second seed Elina Svitolina, who defied a back injury to win a contrasting contest against Wang Xiyu.
Ukrainian Svitolina needed two medical timeouts before fighting back to beat her unseeded Chinese opponent 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Gauff will be the fresher of the two finalists on Sunday, having won all her matches in straight sets this week - including a swift defeat of fourth seed Navarro that highlighted her attacking weapons.
The US Open champion sent down 10 aces and struck 26 winners to six and said she knew what would be needed to quell 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."
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine plays a shot at the ASB Classic. Photo: photosport
Svitolina, whose quarter-final win over Marie Bouzkova didn't finish until 11pm on Friday, played with discomfort from the outset and needed treatment to her lower back 20 minutes into the match.
The 29-year-old took another timeout straight after clinching the second set before emerging to play her best tennis in the closing stages.
Svitolina said she would need to lift to a higher level to stop the rampant Gauff, having endured a more taxing schedule - including wins over former grand slam champions Caroline Wozniacki and Emma Raducanu.
"I had really tough matches in the first three rounds and after late last night I went to bed at 2am so it was not easy," she said.
"It was really tough in the second set but I just pushed myself through. I played like there is no tomorrow."
Svitolina, who also needed her right ankle strapped during the second set, is a three-time grand slam semi-finalist.
