Coco Gauff made a lightning start to her Wuhan Open semifinal match against Aryna Sabalenka and came very close to booking a final ticket but then blew it all after firing a stunning 21 double faults, including the one she served when facing a match point.
Early in the match, the American tennis star was all over the top seed, easily winning the first set with a 6-1 scoreline. During the second set, the No. 4 seed was three times up by a break but failed to capitalize on it and paid the ultimate price as the Belarusian came back to win 1-6 6-4 6-4 in two hours and 26 minutes of play.
For Sabalenka – the 2018 and 2019 Wuhan champion – this was her 16th win at the tournament as she is now one win away from making it three out of three at the Chinese WTA 1000 event. On Sunday, she will battle against either No. 5 seed Zheng Qinwen in a rematch of the 2024 Australian Open final or will meet Wang Xinyu.
On the other side, Gauff – who won the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing last week – fell short of landing back-to-back WTA 1000 titles for the first time in her career and also saw her nine-match winning streak come to an end.
How Sabalenka created a comeback versus Gauff?
The first set was a one-sided affair after the American won…
