Sabalenka reaches third straight Wuhan final with comeback Gauff win

Aryna Sabalenka produced a stunning comeback to reach the Wuhan Open final, coming from a set and a break down to end Coco Gauff's nine-match winning run.

In a repeat of their Australian Open semi-final clash in January, Sabalenka again emerged victorious, winning 1-6 6-4 6-4 in two hours and 28 minutes.

Gauff wasted no time in stamping her authority on the contest, breaking Sabalenka's serve in consecutive games to race into a comfortable 5-0 lead in the opening set.

Sabalenka eventually get her first point on the board in the sixth game, but the damage had already been done, with Gauff claiming the early advantage, dropping just 13 points in doing so.

The second set saw both players fail to hold serve, with the first five games seeing consecutive break points before Gauff took control, only for Sabalenka to win the next two games on the spin and hold on to take the encounter the distance.

Sabalenka started brightly in the decider, taking an early 3-0 lead, with the third game seeing 19 points contested before the Belarusian hammered home her advantage.

The American managed to claw her way back into the contest, though, winning three games on the spin. But Sabalenka broke one final time, with Gauff striking her 21st double fault to seal Sabalenka's progression to the final.

Sabalenka will face the winner of the first all-Chinese semi-final at a WTA 1000 event between Qinwen Zheng and Xinyu Wang's on Sunday.

16 - Aryna Sabalenka has become the player with the most main draw wins at the Wuhan Open since the tournament's inception in 2014 (16, equalling Petra Kvitova). Top. #wuhanopen | @wuhanopentennis @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/8fueEx6tQI

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) October 12, 2024

Data Debrief: Super Sabalenka

Sabalenka hit 31 winners during the contest, becoming the first player to hit 1000 winners in WTA-1000 since Opta collects this data in 2021.

The Belarusian also became the player with the joint most finals reached in WTA events held in China in the Open Era (six), level with Alison Riske & Jelena Jankovic.

She is now the player with the most main draw wins at the Wuhan Open since the tournament's inception in 2014, equalling Petra Kvitova's total of 16.

Only Jannik Sinner (eight, including Shanghai) has made more Tour level finals than Sabalenka in 2024 (seven, including Wuhan).