WUHAN, China (Reuters) -French Open champion Coco Gauff defeated Italy’s Jasmine Paolini 6-4 6-3 on Saturday to reach the Wuhan Open final, her third WTA 1000 final of the year.
The American third seed took the opening set after both players held serve in the first five games before trading five straight breaks.
The second set followed a similar pattern as Paolini broke for a 3-2 lead, but Gauff hit straight back in the 11th consecutive game without a service hold.
Gauff held for the first time in the set to move 4-3 ahead, broke again and served out the match to set up a clash with world number one Aryna Sabalenka or American Jessica Pegula on Sunday.
“I’m really happy with how I played today. It was tough, especially playing on the serve. But I did what I needed to do to get through,” Gauff said.
“Sabalenka and Pegula are great players… And I’ve lost to them both before. But overall, I’m just going to focus on my side of the court and try to control the things I can control.”
(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
