In a match that at one point featured 11 consecutive breaks, Coco Gauff held her serve — and her nerve — when it mattered most.

Wuhan: Scores | Draws | Order of play

The No. 3 seed rallied from a break down three times in the second set and won the final four games of the match Saturday in Wuhan to defeat Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour and 22 minutes. The win, her first over Paolini this year, sends Gauff to her first Dongfeng · Voyah Wuhan Open final.

Sunday’s final will mark Gauff’s third WTA 1000 final of the season — in which she’s 0-2 so far — and fourth overall, highlighted by her Roland-Garros triumph over Aryna Sabalenka.

Though another big title is within reach, Gauff isn’t overlooking the moment.

“I did what I needed to do to get through,” Gauff said after the match. “I’ve played (a few) finals this year so I have a lot of experience, but regardless of what happens tomorrow, I’m really happy with the effort that I put in for this tournament.”

That effort stood out Saturday night, despite a shaky performance.

Consider the following:

  • Gauff hit seven double faults, including five in a row on consecutive second serves during one stretch in the second set.
  • She won less than 28% of her second-serve points.
  • She was broken five times across two sets.

None of it mattered, because as she’s done so often, Gauff found a way to despite not operating at her best.

Entering the match 0-3 against Paolini in 2025, Gauff opened with a hold at love. It was one of five straight service holds between the two players to start the night. Then came the onslaught of breaks. Game after game, the player on return took control. In the first set, it was Gauff who seized the extra opportunity, breaking Paolini to close out the first set 6-4 in 38 minutes.

It was a frustrating set for Paolini, who managed just one winner in the first 10 games.

She found early momentum in the second set, breaking for a 1-0 lead. But it marked the start of a troubling trend for Paolini, who went up a break three times in the set and was broken immediately each time.

Down 3-2, Gauff broke again to level the set for what was then the 11th consecutive break between the two players. Despite hitting her seventh double fault at the beginning of the next game, she won her first second-serve point of the set and held for 4-3 to break the streak and swing momentum for good.

She then broke Paolini for the seventh straight time, and the seventh time in nine return games, before finishing on her own terms, serving out the match on a day in which she struggled mightily at the line.

She sealed the win with one final battle at the net against the Italian doubles star.

The victory levels their head-to-head at three wins apiece and adds to a growing list of milestones for Gauff:

  • She’s dropped just 16 games en route to the final – the fewest in tournament history.
  • At 21 years and 207 days, she’s the youngest player to reach the final at both the China Open and Wuhan Open.
  • Her 13 career wins over top 10 players at WTA 1000 are the most by any player before turning 22 since 2009.
  • She leads all players in WTA wins on Chinese soil over the past three years with 21. Katerina Siniakova is second with 18.

Gauff will look to add to that total in Sunday’s final against Jessica Pegula, who came from behind to defeat Sabalenka in the other semifinal for her seventh three-set win in her last eight matches.

Pegula leads the head-to-head 4-2, but it was Gauff who won their most recent meeting at last season’s WTA Finals in straight sets. This will be the first time the former doubles partners have faced one another in a final at the WTA level.

Regardless of who wins, it will be the first time the trophy has been handed to someone other than Sabalenka since 2017.