Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka rallied from a slow start to beat an in-form Coco Gauff 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday, advancing to her third straight Wuhan final and preserving her perfect record at the tournament.
Sabalenka will face seventh-ranked Zheng Qinwen in the final, where she will be bidding for her fourth title of the season, which includes the Australian Open and US Open.
“I’m really happy to be in the final. One more to go, and I will do everything I can to win this beautiful trophy for the third time,” Sabalenka said. “It will be a great match.”
Zheng defeated No. 51 Wang Xinyu 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final.
The Belarusian’s 16th straight victory at Wuhan ended Gauff’s recent win streak at nine, which included the China Open title last week. But it looked anything but certain for Sabalenka as she crashed 6-1 in the opening set.
In a fight between the past two US Open champions, Gauff led by a break early in the second but Sabalenka responded to pull level at 4-4 and saved a break point on serve to take a 5-4 lead.
Serving to stay in the set, Gauff was broken as Sabalenka hit a lunging forehand volley to force a deciding set.
“Couple of mistakes from her and I thought maybe I still have [a] chance in this match. … It was a very important win,” Sabalenka said.
Sabalenka carried her momentum into the third, extending her streak to seven games for a 3-0 lead. Gauff fought back to level at 4-4, but Sabalenka held strong to halt Gauff’s run.
She broke once more after Gauff hit her 21st double fault on match point, ending the 2½-hour match.
Gauff’s serving struggles echoed those of Sabalenka’s, who was often her own worst enemy on serve and previously led the WTA Tour for most double faults before employing a biomechanics trainer and finding a degree of consistency in 2023.
“I was playing that match thinking, ‘Well, girl, I feel you. I feel you like nobody else,'” Sabalenka told reporters. “I know what she’s going through. This is really tough. But I know that if she’ll be able to overcome this serve situation.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Source: espn.com