Aryna Sabalenka takes advantage of Coco Gauff's service woes for an epic comeback win – “I have a little faith”

Aryna Sabalenka said she was “convinced of Coco Gauff's 'mistakes'” after recovering from the 20-year-old's dominant opening set to claim a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory in the Wuhan Open semi-final .

Gauff began incredulously, edging the No. 1 seed 5-0 in just 19 minutes while displaying the most versatile tennis of her career. However, the American ultimately gave up her lead after collapsing on serve and committing 21 double faults throughout the match.

Taking advantage of Gauff's capitulation, Sabalenka found her groove to prevail and make it 16-0 after two blockbuster sets in Wuhan, as the pair wooed the crowd with some incredible points at the end of the court.

“The atmosphere is incredible,” Sabalenka said in her on-pitch interview. “It definitely felt like one of the biggest games of my career from the crowd. It’s another Grand Slam final, thank you for the atmosphere.”

“Coco is an incredible player, we've had a lot of tough battles in the past, she's in great shape and I knew before this game that it's going to be tough and I have to work really hard to win.

“I don't know, a few mistakes from her and I'm a little convinced that I still have a chance in this game. I'm really happy with this win. It’s really important.”

The American, who won the title in Beijing earlier this month, showed exceptional ball-striking in the opening exchanges – denying the world No. 2 any opportunity to put her stamp on the game and reacting astutely to everything that came her way came .

Gauff's ability to stifle Sabalenka's play was also notable. The No. 1 seed, usually known for her sheer power on groundstrokes, was unable to impose her usual powerful prowess on Gauff. According to Sky Sports, the No. 4 seed quickly established an iron presence at the back of the court, which was evident when Sabalenka scored just two winners in the opening set.

Even on cross-court forehand exchanges – where Sabalenka usually thrives – Gauff took her shots early and gave Sabalenka minimal time to execute her shots.

In terms of sheer dominance, Gauff was 5-0 up within 19 minutes but couldn't quite clinch the bagel set as Sabalenka finally managed her third attempt.

She made no mistake and completed an incredible set – one of her most complete since arriving on the WTA scene – holding her performance with confidence to take a 1-0 lead in 28 minutes.

Sabalenka briefly came off the pitch during the break, but that couldn't slow down Gauff's rapid momentum. The Belarusian found herself at the point of the game in search of her second serve of the game, but Gauff frustrated the former world No. 1 even more with an imperious all-round game on the court and turned it into another break, which Sabalenka followed up with A shot from her responded to the thug hitting the ground.

Sabalenka, however, responded with her own break, her first of the match, but again failed to follow up on serve and the pair traded break after break until the score was 2-2 when Gauff herself gave up a hold at love with two consecutive double hits. Deuce error.

In fact, Gauff's missed serve was the only problem in an otherwise near-perfect performance. The 2023 US Open champion finally made the breakthrough to 4-2 with her serve game, although Sabalenka was forced back to a duel with two weak second serves.

With the score at 4:3, Gauff remarkably allowed Sabalenka to get back into the game with three consecutive double faults, making the score 11. Apparently emboldened by her opponent's difficulties, Sabalenka made it 1-1 as she began to find her trademark groove at the back of the pitch.

Sabalenka continued to capitalize on Gauff's loss of momentum, securing her eighth game in a row to take a 3-0 lead in the final set, but the box office game continued to turn on its head as the American got back on her feet to to pull through it was 4-3 again.

But ultimately Gauff's impressive returns, groundstrokes and movement were all for naught as Sabalenka continued her perfect run in Wuhan, for which the American blamed her faulty serve.

When asked about her perfect record in this special province of China and reaching three finals, Sabalenka said: “That sounds really crazy. I love this place.”

“I feel like tennis is becoming more and more popular in China. I am really happy to be in the final and I will give everything to win this beautiful trophy for the third time.”

Sabalenka will face either Qinwen Zheng or Wang Xinyu in the final, to which she replied: “Ouch, it won’t be easy. I know so many of you support me. I have my team, my family, so many people around me. “The world supports me, so I will focus on that.

“And it will be a great game and I will be there, I will fight and I will enjoy the atmosphere no matter who you support.”