Aryna Sabalenka makes WTA Rankings No 1 move with huge Coco Gauff Wuhan comeback win
Aryna Sabalenka made a dramatic fightback to earn a crucial three-set victory over Coco Gauff in the semi-finals of the 2024 Wuhan Open.
The world No 2 downed Gauff 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach her third final at the WTA 1000 event in Wuhan in as many appearances.
Sabalenka found herself staring at the prospect of a resounding defeat at 1-6, 2-4 behind after being broken in five of her first six service games.
The three-time Grand Slam winner then won seven straight games to turn the second set around and take a 3-0 lead in the decider, before Gauff battled back to 4-4.
With Gauff serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Sabalenka converted her second match point to deliver the decisive blow by breaking for the second time in the set.
Sabalenka ended Gauff’s nine-match winning streak, with the world No 4 having won six matches en route to the China Open title last week before her three wins in Wuhan.
In her on-court interview, Sabalenka said: “This definitely felt like one of the biggest matches of my career, crowd-wise, it’s like another Grand Slam final match.
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“Coco is an incredible player. We have had a lot of tough battles in the past. She’s in great shape. I knew I had to work really hard to get the win.
“A couple of mistakes from her and I got a little belief that I still had chances in this match. I’m really happy with this win. It’s a really important one.”
Sabalenka’s run to the final in Wuhan has seen her close the gap further to world No 1 Iga Swiatek, who has not played since the US Open.
The 26-year-old now has 9,366 points, which leaves her 419 points behind Swiatek in the live WTA Rankings.
Sabalenka will face either Zheng Qinwen or Wang Xinyu in the Wuhan final, and a title win would leave her just 69 points behind Swiatek. This would set up a fascinating battle for the WTA year-end No 1 position at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
Gauff hit 21 double faults during the semi-final (which is the most a player has hit in a WTA Tour match this year), including nine in each of the second and third sets.
Sabalenka, who has struggled with second serve issues of her own in the past, expressed her sympathy for the 20-year-old American.
“I was playing that match thinking, like, ‘Well, girl, I feel you. I feel you like nobody else.’ I know what she’s going through,” said the reigning US Open and Australian Open champion.
“This is really difficult. This is really tough. But I know that if she’ll be able to overcome this serve situation, she already one of the best players, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to be one of the greatest players.
“I mean, how did it feel? At some point in the second set when she was keep breaking me, I was like, ‘Okay, I still have chances on her serve.’ I was just trying to put as much pressure on her as I can so she would go even crazier on her serve.
“Yeah, I think she just dropped her level on her serve. I just felt like, Okay, I still have some chances in this match. I was pushing myself so hard to put balls back on the other side as much as I could.”
Sabalenka is seeking her third Wuhan Open title, having triumphed in the previous two editions held in 2019 and 2018.
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