A first set that never got going
Coco Gauff took 6-1, 7-6 (3) off Ann Li on Tuesday evening in Cincinnati and moved into the last 16. The opening set lasted barely long enough to register. Gauff, the No 4 seed, broke early, held everything, and handed Li just one game before the American went looking for a way back into the match.
Li found it, briefly. The No 28 seed pushed the second set to a tiebreak and made Gauff work through the closing stretch, but the breaker went the same way as the first set. Gauff won it 7-3 and closed the night out.
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The numbers behind the run
This is Gauff’s sixth WTA 1000 last-16 of the season and her third at Cincinnati specifically. Her 2026 win total now sits at 36 across all levels, and 21 of those have come at WTA 1000 events. Only Elena Rybakina, on 24, has claimed more wins at that tier this year.
The path here was not straightforward either. Gauff dropped the first set to Liudmila Samsonova in the previous round before turning it around 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, a pattern she has leaned on more than once this summer. Li arrived in better rhythm, having beaten Shuai Zhang 7-5, 6-3, and the world No 29 has spent the North American swing playing some of the cleanest tennis of her career.
Bouzkova or Jovic comes next
Gauff waits on the winner of Marie Bouzkova against fellow American Iva Jovic for a place in the quarterfinals. Neither is a comfortable draw. Bouzkova has built a career on absorbing pace and extending rallies past the point where opponents want them to end, and Jovic has been one of the more disruptive names in the bottom half of this draw.
The wider picture in Ohio helps Gauff. Seeds have fallen at a steady rate all week, and with the US Open two weeks out, matches banked on hard courts count for more than usual. Gauff has now played five sets across two rounds in Cincinnati and lost only one of them.
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