Linda Noskova became the first player to reach the semi-finals of the WTA Finals on Tuesday, beating Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-3 in their Group 1 round-robin match at Indian Wells.

The 21-year-old Czech, the Wimbledon champion and the world No. 8, produced a dominant straight-sets win over the fourth-ranked American at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The victory gave Noskova a second win from two group matches at the season-ending tournament, and with it the first semi-final place of the week.

Noskova broke Gauff's serve four times in the match, keeping the two-time Grand Slam champion under constant pressure from the baseline. Gauff, the 2024 WTA Finals champion, was unable to find a way back into either set as Noskova closed out the win in straight sets.

Straight sets was the key for Noskova

The straight-sets scoreline mattered as much as the win itself. Before Tuesday's play, the tournament's advancement scenarios were clear: Noskova would book a semi-final place if she beat Gauff in straight sets, with her final position in the group still to be decided. A three-set win would have left her waiting on other results.

By taking both sets 6-3, Noskova removed all doubt. She is now guaranteed a place in the last four, whatever happens in Thursday's final round of group matches, when she faces Jessica Pegula.

It was a second impressive win in three days for the Czech, who is playing at the WTA Finals for the first time. On Sunday she opened her campaign by beating Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-4 in 86 minutes, hitting 20 winners in an aggressive display. Gauff had also started with a win, beating Pegula 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 in a match lasting two hours and 39 minutes.

Gauff beaten for a second time this year

The result also continued a difficult recent run for Gauff against Noskova. Gauff led their head-to-head 2-1 before Tuesday's match, but Noskova had won their only previous meeting this season, coming from behind to win 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 in the fourth round of the Madrid Open. Tuesday's win was Noskova's second victory over Gauff in 2026.

Gauff is appearing at the WTA Finals for a fifth consecutive year, a run no player as young as her has matched since Martina Hingis in the late 1990s. She won the title in 2024 and reached the semi-finals last year, but she must now regroup quickly. She faces Kostyuk in her final group match on Thursday and needs a win, and a favourable result elsewhere, to join Noskova in the last four.

Pegula keeps her hopes alive

Earlier on Tuesday, Jessica Pegula kept her own semi-final hopes alive with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Kostyuk. The win moved Pegula to one win and one defeat in Group 1, level with Gauff, while Kostyuk was eliminated after a second straight defeat.

Kostyuk had only entered the tournament as an alternate after world No. 1 Elena Rybakina withdrew on the eve of the event because of a viral illness. The Ukrainian was told just a day before her opening match that she would be playing.

The WTA Finals, held this year at Indian Wells from 8 to 15 November, bring together the top eight players of the season in two groups of four, with the top two from each group advancing to the semi-finals. Noskova's run caps a career-best season in which she won the title in Berlin and then claimed her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, beating Karolina Muchova in the final.

She will now wait to learn who she faces in the semi-finals later this week, while Gauff and Pegula fight for the second qualifying place from Group 1 on Thursday.

Sources: Reuters, Sky Sports and BBC coverage of Noskova's win over Gauff and Tennis.com head-to-head and match records.