Both players, however, can leave with their heads held high, having reached the last eight of the tournament. It was the first time two Polish players advanced to this stage of a 1000-ranked tournament.
World No.4 Gauff has been in red hot form in recent weeks and Linette, showing a little nervousness, could not break the American’s powerful serve. Gauff, meanwhile, broke the Pole’s serve four times to take the opening set 6-0.
Linette fought back well in the second with some excellent defensive work but once Gauff broke the Pole to make it 4-3, she pushed home her advantage taking the set 6-4.
Sabalenka was in commanding form against Fręch, hitting an impressive 42 winners in 16 games, the WTA Tennis website reported.
Although Fręch managed to break Sabalenka in the second set, it was mainly one-way traffic, with the world No.2 showing off a splendid array of shots.
The Belarusian is a two-time defending champion in Wuhan and extended her unbeaten run at the tournament to 15 wins, reaching her eighth semifinal of 2024.
When the Wuhan Open is over, there will be just one more major tournament to bring down the curtain on the season. The WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, begins on November 2.
Once complete, Linette and Fręch can reflect on highly productive seasons. In July the former won the Prague Open defeating the latter in the first all-Polish WTA Tour final in the Open era.
While Linette and Fręch have enjoyed the limelight in Polish tennis, attention will likely be back on Iga Swiątek in November, as she is expected to make her eagerly anticipated return at the WTA Finals after a hiatus, which is now in its fifth week.
The world number one is currently taking a break from the intense demands of elite tennis and searching for a new permanent coach after announcing last Friday that she was parting ways with her coach of the last three years, Tomasz Wiktorowski.
