PREVIEW WTA Wuhan Open final: All-American showdown set as Coco Gauff faces Jessica Pegula for the title

The stage is set for an all-American final at the Wuhan Open—the final WTA 1000 of the season—and it will crown a new champion after three consecutive editions in which Aryna Sabalenka took the title (2018, ’19, ’24). This time, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula will be the protagonists in the title match, marking their 7th direct encounter.

The semifinals featured highly interesting duels, with Gauff defeating the Italian Jasmine Paolini, and Pegula taking revenge for several consecutive losses against Sabalenka. This will be the first time Gauff and Pegula face each other in a final, with Pegula currently dominating the head-to-head (4-2).

Coco Gauff managed to recover from a couple of months of doubts during the American hardcourt swing and traveled to Asia with the objective of an important points defense to close the year. Last week in Beijing, she reached the semifinals, and this week she is already in the final, totaling an 8-1 record in the Asian swing so far.

The World No. 3 has advanced without issues, with several easy victories and still without conceding a set, defeating Moyuka Uchijima (6-1, 6-0), Shuai Zhang (6-3, 6-2), Laura Siegemund (6-3, 6-0), and Jasmine Paolini (6-4, 6-3) in the semifinals. The Italian had just eliminated 6-time major champion Iga Świątek while only conceding three games, but she simply couldn't do much against an inspired Gauff.

Gauff has managed to mitigate the problem of double faults with effective serving and looking imposing on important points. The American has totaled 19 double faults in her last three matches—an aspect she will have to be especially careful with in the final—but which she has so far managed to keep at bay, capitalizing on the difference she has gained in other aspects of the game against her rivals.

Jessica Pegula no longer surprises with the consistency that has characterized her over the last four seasons. The World No. 6 has not had an easy path to the final but has shown her characteristic consistency, overcoming battle after battle throughout the tournament. In fact, considering her run in the China Open—where she reached the semifinals—she has now played 8 consecutive matches that have been decided in the third set.

On her path in Wuhan, she defeated Hailey Baptiste (6-4, 4-6, 7-6), Ekaterina Alexandrova (7-5, 3-6, 6-3), Kateřina Siniaková (2-6, 6-0, 6-3), and Aryna Sabalenka (2-6, 6-4, 7-6). Against the Belarusian, she pulled off the surprise, snapping a four-match losing streak against Sabalenka and reducing the head-to-head deficit to 3-8. Sabalenka was the 3-time defending champion and had a 20-0 record in Wuhan, until she crossed paths with Pegula, who turned the match around and took the victory in the third-set tie-break.

Pegula secured her qualification for the WTA Finals for the fourth consecutive year a day ago and will seek another WTA 1000 title. She currently holds three trophies from six finals in the category. Regardless of the result, she has already guaranteed finishing the week as World No. 5.

The rivalry between Pegula and Gauff will feature a final for the first time, between two players who know each other well as former doubles partners and two of the main protagonists on the WTA Tour for several seasons. The Americans will face each other for the first time this year, with the current head-to-head favoring Pegula at 4-2 (3-1 on hardcourts).

They have never met in a final, and their last clash was in the Round Robin of the WTA Finals 2024, with a convincing victory for Gauff en route to the title. It is a match that could swing either way; while Gauff has advanced more easily throughout the tournament—still without conceding a set—Pegula comes off the biggest win by eliminating the 3-time defending champion and World No. 1 Sabalenka.