BEIJING – No. 4 seed Coco Gauff secured a return to the second straight China Open semifinals by rallying from a set down to defeat Ukrainian qualifier Yuliia Starodubseva 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals on Thursday defeated. Beijing is the third WTA 1000 semifinal of the year for the 20-year-old American and the first since Rome. She is the youngest consecutive semifinalist at the China Open since Maria Sharapova achieved the feat in 2004 and 2005.

Beijing: Results | Order of play | Pulls

Gauff will face 15th-seeded Paula Badosa on Saturday for a place in her first final since her win in Auckland in January and first at the WTA 1000 level since her win in Cincinnati last summer. Badosa leads their head-to-head 3-2. Gauff won her only meeting of the season on clay in Rome.

Gauff started the week ranked sixth in the PIF Race to the WTA Finals and her run in Beijing has boosted her chances of qualifying for a third straight season-ending championship.

In their first career meeting, Gauff overcame a slow start to overtake the rising Starodubtseva, who was making her second WTA quarterfinal in her WTA 1000 debut. The 24-year-old Old Dominion University graduate, ranked 115th, had yet to lose a set in Beijing until Gauff stormed back in the second set.

“I was just trying to remember what we were working on on the practice field,” Gauff said. “There are still a lot of things I need to get used to. So for me it’s about trusting the process and focusing on it.”

“Today I can’t control how I play or how she plays, but I can just try to control my mindset and commit to the process.”

Starodubtseva dominated the first frame from the first game, immediately breaking an error-prone Gauff. Starodubtseva held Gauff to zero winners while she scored ten wins herself. While Gauff struggled to find rhythm on her serve and committed seven double faults, Starodubtseva maintained constant back pressure. She earned nine break chances and broke three times in the 40-minute set.

Gauff responded by demonstrating her champion’s courage. She saved two break points in her first service game of the second set to take a 3-1 lead. After giving up two more break points to solidify her lead, Gauff settled for losing just three games for the rest of the match.

After forcing the decisive set, Gauff built a 3-0 lead at the start of the third round and did not allow Starodubtseva to question the result. Gauff didn’t have a break point in the last set. She only lost four points on serve.

With the win over Starodubtseva, Gauff improved to 12-1 against qualifiers this year. She has also won 24 of her last 25 matches against players outside the top 100 of the PIF WTA Rankings.

Starodubtseva, who last month became the first woman in the Open Era to successfully qualify for all four Grand Slams in a single season, will make her top 100 debut on Monday.