Coco Gauff defeats Jasmine Paolini in straight sets to reach Wuhan Open final

WUHAN: French Open champion Coco Gauff secured a straight-set 6-4, 6-3 victory over Italy's Jasmine Paolini here at the Center Court on Saturday to qualify for the Wuhan Open final.

The American third seed dominated the opener, and both players held serve for the first five games, following five straight breaks.

Gauff broke Paolini’s serve and took a 3-2 lead in the second set, and continued with the same pace that she left in the second set.

It was the 11th consecutive game in which a service hold was unsuccessful.

Gauff then broke Paolini again, ended the match on her own serve, and maintained service for the first time in the set to take a 4-3 lead.

She will now compete on Sunday against either World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka or fellow American Jessica Pegula.

Wuhan Open final is Gauff’s fifth career WTA 1000 final and her third of 2025.

Reflecting on her triumph, Gauff expressed satisfaction with her performance, while describing the match and dealing with Paolini’s serve as tough.

"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.

She also hailed her potential opponents, Sabalenka and Pegula, who have defeated the American. Gauff, however, stressed that she is solely focused on her side of the court and will vie to control things which she can.

"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."