China's Wang Xinyu upsets Gauff at Berlin Open

BERLIN - China's Wang Xinyu continued her winning run by upsetting newly crowned French Open champion Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-3 in the women's singles second round at the Berlin Open on Thursday.

The 23-year-old reached the main draw of the WTA 500 event after winning two qualifying matches, then defeated world No 16 Daria Kasatkina of Australia in straight sets in the first round.

Facing American world No 2 Gauff who's in her first match since her French Open triumph, Wang capitalized on her grass-court rhythm to set up a quarterfinal clash with Spain's Paula Badosa.

"After I won the first set, I told myself, 'OK, let's take a minute and enjoy this. I'm playing the French Open champion and I won the first set,'" Wang said during the on-court interview.

"I'm really happy with how I played today. I was serving good, and putting a lot of pressure on return, especially second serve return," added the world No 49.

Elsewhere, China's Zhu Lin was defeated by American McCartney Kessler 6-1, 6-4 in the round of 16 at the WTA 250 Nottingham Open.

Both Wang and Zhu have secured spots in the women's singles main draw at the upcoming Wimbledon Championships.