CINCINNATI, Ohio -- No.7 Coco Gauff won the battle of the teenagers to advance to her first Western & Southern Open quarterfinal, defeating 18-year-old Linda Noskova 6-4, 6-0 in the Round of 16. 

Gauff will face Italy's Jasmine Paolini for a spot in her second WTA 1000 semifinal of the season.

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Gauff's strong summer surge continued against Noskova, who defeated last year's finalist Petra Kvitova in the previous round. Gauff held the powerful Czech to just 4 winners on the night, while tallying 22 winners herself. 

"We were breaking each other a lot in the first set and I just told myself to hit the serve as hard as you can in the second set," Gauff said. "It worked out."

Gauff and Noskova combined for nine breaks of serve in the opening set before Gauff settled herself in the second set to seal the win after 62 minutes.

Paolini advances after Rybakina retires

Italian qualifier Paolini moved into the first WTA 1000 quarterfinal of her career at the Western & Southern Open, after No.4 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan retired from their match during the second set on Thursday due to injuries. The final score was 4-6, 5-2, ret.

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Despite ending via retirement, this counts as Paolini's second career Top 10 victory. Paolini's previous Top 10 win was a three-setter over Aryna Sabalenka at Indian Wells last year. Paolini had been 0-5 against the Top 10 this year before this match.

Paolini is currently ranked No.43, just one spot below her career-high ranking of No.42 which she set in June. She reached her third career WTA singles final on home soil in Palermo in July. The 27-year-old has won one career WTA singles title, at 2021 Portoroz.

After getting through qualifying, Paolini handily won her first two main-draw matches this week. In the first round, she defeated Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-1, and she bested fellow qualifier Cristina Bucsa 6-1, 6-3 in the second round.

"It’s kind of strange to be here because the first round [of qualifying], I was down and playing very bad," Paolini said with a laugh. "I managed to win the first round of qualies, and it’s getting better and better match by match. I’m really happy to be here, I love to play here in Cincinnati."