Coco Gauff described her Wuhan semifinal match against Jasmine Paolini as "weird," but noted she was happy to have managed to figure out how to win in tricky conditions.
In the Wuhan semifinal, Gauff hit seven double faults – faced six break points – and lost her serve five times. Still, the third-seeded American completed a straight-set 6-3 6-4 win over Paolini.
While Gauff got broken twice in the first set and three times in the second set, she also earned nine break points and realized seven of them. It is worth mentioning that at the start of the second set, six consecutive breaks of serve were seen.
Gauff after beating Paolini in Wuhan: It was a weird match
“Yeah, I think it was a weird match. I felt like I played really well off the ground, especially in the second set, and I served well too. I was able to find it in those last two games, focusing on trying to put her on defence, and I thought I returned well," the American said.
“Yeah, I don’t know—it was kind of in my favor and also not. On the serve, it was really hard to get free points because it was so slow. But it was the same for both of us. At the start of the second set, we basically broke each other back and forth a lot. It still felt as slow as it does at night, but obviously, like you said, a little bit cooler. It was tough to put pressure on serve, but I think overall it worked in my favor today.”
On Sunday, Gauff faces No. 6 seed and fellow compatriot Jessica Pegula in the Wuhan final. While the 21-year-old American has a 2-4 head-to-head against Pegula, she beat the younger American 6-3 6-2 in their last match at last year's WTA Finals.
If Gauff wins Wuhan, it will be her first title at the tournament but also her first main glory since she won the French Open.
