Coco Gauff vs Eva Lys Tips, Prediction & Live Stream - Gauff to power into China Open semi-finals

It's been an up-and-down season for Gauff - one one hand, she's added to her Grand Slam collection by securing the French Open title, but shockingly, she hasn't made a single semi-final on hardcourt. The American will be looking to change that in the Chinese capital on Thursday and she should be confident having made at least the final four in her three previous appearances. It hasn't been any easy tournament for Gauff so far, overcoming tough challenges from Belinda Bencic and Leylah Fernandez, but she's the strong favourite here.

Lys is enjoying the best tournament of her career, advancing to the quarter-finals of a WTA 1000 event for the first time having never previous been beyond the third round. The German recorded her first ever top 20 victory in 12 previous attempts over Elena Rybakina and has absolutely nothing to lose heading into this contest. However, it's likely her run comes to an end here - Lys is still 1-12 vs top 20 players and Gauff has stated she's playing without pressure post-slam season. I'd be shocked if the American didn't win this in straights.

This will be the first career meeting between the pair.

Gauff has registered a 41-13 record for the season coming into this contest and will be hoping to replicate her big finish to 2024, where she picked up the Beijing title and also the WTA Finals silverware.

If not for a superb clay swing, Gauff would be struggling to remain inside the top 10. Indeed, 17 of her 41 wins this season came during three tournaments in Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros, where she made the final of the first two and secured her second major title at the latter.

However, Gauff's hardcourt form has been extremely poor - relatively speaking. The 21-year-old has failed to go past the quarter-finals in her eight hardcourt tournaments, most recently going down in the R16 of the US Open to Naomi Osaka.

Gauff is back in Beijing as the defending champion and now has another chance to clear the last eight hurdle after beating Kamilla Rakhimova in straight sets before narrow three-set triumphs over Leylah Fernandez and Belinda Bencic.

Lys comes into this clash with a 30-21 record on the season at all levels and is set to make her top 50 debut after a stunning week in the Chinese capital.

The German started the season with a bang by reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open as a lucky loser, laying the foundation for a breakout year.

While the 23-year-old hasn't set the world on fire, it's been a solid year of consolidating her spot on the main tour, with Lys also making the third round of Montreal and the quarter-finals of Cleveland before making the second round of the US Open.

Lys has taken her game to new levels in Beijing this week, winning three consecutive three-setters over Iva Jovic, Elena Rybakina and McCartney Kessler to surge into her maiden WTA 1000 quarter-final.

The win over Rybakina was her first over a top 20 or top 10 player, while Lys was able to finish strongly to back it up with a 4-6 6-1 6-2 triumph over Kessler in the R16.