Coco Gauff stutters to victory over Jasmine Paolini to reach Wuhan Open Final

Coco Gauff is into the final of the Wuhan Open after a stuttering display but one that saw the America win through to face either Aryna Sabalenka or Jessica Pegula in the final tomorrow.

Gauff was facing Jasmine Paolini who perhaps had the slight edge having played better this week including thrashing Iga Swiatek yesterday but wasn't able to carry that form on. Gauff won 6-4, 6-3 in a match featuring 11 breaks of serve in a row as she reached her first final since Roland Garros.

Gauff was broken five times and served seven double faults so in reality despite sealing the win, it was far from rosey for the American. The run of 11 consecutive breaks saw the match swing like a pendulum but it was Gauff who held her nerve in a game that could've gone either way.

She rallied from a break down three times in the second set and won the final four games of the match to seal it in an hour and 22 minutes.

It is a fifth WTA 1000 final of her career and a third in 2025. A title run in Wuhan doesn't help any of the winners either when it comes to the WTA Finals. All are already qualified apart from Paolini who ended up losing and now has to seal her qualification at either Ningbo or Tokyo.

"I'm really happy with how I played today. It was tough, especially playing on the serve, but I did what I needed to do to get through," Gauff said.

"Sabalenka and Pegula are great players, and I've lost to them both before. But overall, I'm just going to focus on my side of the court and try to control the things I can control."

Paolini is currently in eighth for Riyadh with Madison Keys in and Mirra Andreeva inhabiting the next spot. Albeit she has ground to make up and only Andreeva, Paolini and Rybakina remain in the running. Ekaterina Alexandrova, Clara Tauson, Elina Svitolina and Emma Navarro in particular just behind are all out currently so cannot get in even if one of them won in Ningbo or Tokyo.