But Swiatek, who had surrendered her top ranking to Aryna Sabalenka after losing to Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth round of the season's final Grand Slam last month, regained her grip on her rivalry with Gauff to reach a seventh final this year. Up next for Swiatek is Samsonova, who beat former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 7-6(7) 6-3 to improve her head-to-head record over the Moscow-born Kazakh world number five to 4-0. "Every time it's a battle with Elena ... She's a champion," Samsonova said. The 24-year-old Samsonova, who is ranked 22, has now beaten three former Grand Slam champions in Beijing with victories over Petra Kvitova and Ostapenko in earlier rounds. Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Persons: Coco Gauff, Florence Lo, Swiatek, Coco Gauff's, Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Jelena Ostapenko, I'm, It's, Elena Rybakina, Elena, Samsonova, Petra Kvitova, Shrivathsa Sridhar, Hugh Lawson Organizations: National Tennis Center, United, United States REUTERS, Rights, China, Russian, Cincinnati, U.S ., Wimbledon, Kazakh, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, United States, Rights BEIJING, Moscow, She's, Bengaluru