Wuhan Open Champion Coco Gauff Picks her Favorite Surface on Tour After Winning her 9th Hard-Court Title
At Wuhan, Coco Gauff won her 9th consecutive hard-court final on tour.
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Coco Gauff (via X/Jose Morgado)
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Coco Gauff produced an excellent performance to claim her 11th tour-level singles title on Sunday (October 12). The American star defeated her fellow compatriot and former doubles partner Jessica Pegula to claim the Wuhan Open title for the first time in her career and just her first WTA 1000 title of the season.
Gauff had entered the tournament without much ambition after failing to defend the China Open. There were still loopholes in her game, especially her serving issues, which led her to hire Aryna Sabalenka‘s former biomechanical coach, Gavin MacMillan. Evidently, she proved her doubters wrong at the Wuhan Open.
Gauff didn’t drop a set at the tournament, beating Laura Siegemund and seventh seed Jasmine Paolini en route to the final. She faced Jessica Pegula in the championship match and showed her proficiency on the court. The 21-year-old won the first set easily, but in the second set, she found herself trailing by a double break.
The World No.3 needed to overcome the challenge, rallying back into the match to win the title 6-4, 7-5. The Wuhan title is Gauff’s second trophy this season. Her first final win came at the French Open in June, where she came from a set down to beat World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in the final.
The Wuhan Open trophy win is Gauff’s 9th hard-court final. During an interview with the WTA after the tournament, Gauff was told about her mind-blowing statistics on hard-court events. She revealed that her best surface is the hard court, and she hopes to continue winning more tournament titles.
I definitely think it’s the surface I’m most true to. Obviously, growing up, I just liked the sureness of bounces and the sureness of knowing when I’m going to stop and when I’m going to go. It’s special and also being American, I feel like that’s our surface. A lot of people think it’s clay so I don’t know [about] the favorite surface debate. I feel like it’s still going to be hard court for me, but yeah, I didn’t know that was a stat, so I’ll try not to think about it if I’m in another hard-court event.
Gauff became the only woman to win her first nine consecutive hard-court finals in the Open Era. In fact, it is the first occasion a WTA player has won nine consecutive hard court finals since Serena Williams, who won nine straight finals between the 2013 US Open and 2015 Cincinnati Open.
Coco Gauff aims to continue with her confidence at the WTA Finals in Riyadh
Gauff has not had a great 2025 season by her standards, but has bounced back from her struggles on the court. She failed to reach the quarter-finals of the last two Grand Slam events after winning the French Open in June. The 21-year-old is the defending champion of the WTA Finals.
She won the tournament last year after coming from a set down to beat Qinwen Zheng in the final. During the aforementioned interview, she also revealed that winning the Wuhan Open has given the needed the confidence to go on and win the WTA Finals title for the second consecutive year.
This definitely gives me a lot more confidence going into the WTA Finals, after the way the mid-part of the season went for me, especially in New York. It gives me a lot of confidence to try to defend that title. Obviously, winning it last year, I know how tough it is to do, so I’m just going to take it match by match and hopefully I can end up with the trophy.
Gauff will face a very tough task defending the WTA Finals as the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek will be eyeing the title. They will both be seeking to end the season well after a consistent performance on the court on tour.
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