Sabalenka ends Gauff's winning streak and reaches the Wuhan final for the third time in a row

WUHAN – World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka snapped No. 4 Coco Gauff's nine-game winning streak and remains perfect at the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open. In a battle between the last two US Open champions, Sabalenka defeated the American 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 after a set and a loss in the semifinals to reach her third consecutive Wuhan final.

Sabalenka, a two-time defending champion, improved to 16-0 in Wuhan since her debut in 2018.

Wuhan: Scores | schedule | Pulls

On Sunday, Sabalenka will be aiming for her fourth Hologic WTA title of the season and 17th overall. After winning the Australian Open in January, Sabalenka has been on a hot streak since the start of the Cincinnati Open in August. She has won 19 of her last 20 matches and reached the final or better in three of her last four tournaments, including wins in Cincinnati and the US Open. A win in Wuhan would give her two WTA 1000 titles in a single season for the first time in her career.

Sabalenka will face either No. 7 Zheng Qinwen or No. 51 Wang Xinyu in the final.

Game notes: At the start of the game, Gauff and Sabalenka had separated their last four hard court encounters. Gauff prevailed in the most notable showdown, the final of the US Open last fall. Sabalenka won their only meeting this year, winning in straight sets in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

Gauff needed just 28 minutes to win the first set, outdoing the top seed in every way. She built a 5-0 lead by holding Sabalenka to just one winner and holding her serve with ease. The duo exchanged five breaks of serve to open the set before Gauff hit the first serve to take a 4-2 lead.

Turning point: Even though Sabalenka was behind in terms of results, the first six games of the set also showed solutions. She opted for a more aggressive game plan to turn the set around, playing the ball low and wide to get Gauff running and driving the ball through open space.

With the crowd's loud support behind her, Sabalenka fought back to defeat Gauff and level the set at 4-4. Under renewed pressure on serve, Sabalenka wiped away a break point with hard work from the baseline to take a 5-4 lead and sealed the game with a perfect drop shot winner.

Gauff's serve kept Sabalenka in the set, but Sabalenka hit a remarkable forehand volley to secure her first point of the match. She coolly beat the American and brought the game to the third point.

Gauff's last stand: After winning the last four games of the second set, Sabalenka entered the third with full momentum. Sabalenka extended her streak to seven consecutive games and led 3-0 in the final frame before Gauff came back from 4-1 down to make it 4-4 and equalize. But a clinical stop halted Gauff's three-game streak.

Sabalenka broke one last time when Gauff made her 21st double fault of the night, ending the match that lasted 2 hours and 26 minutes. Both players finished the game with 31 winners and 35 unforced errors.