By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The third seed Coco Gauff overcame Jessica Pegula 6-4, 7-5 on Sunday to clinch the third WTA 1000 title of her career in an all-American final at the Wuhan Open.
Gauff secured the trophy without dropping a set after a 1hr 42min battle in the central Chinese city.
She won her second title of the year, having claimed the French Open on clay, and she now has 11 career titles.
“I’d like to thank my team, it was a great Asian swing [of tournaments],” Gauff said in her victory speech.
“I’m going to call JC [her coach Jean-Christophe Faurel] out here; he originally didn’t want me to come because I had a tough US Open but I had to prove him wrong.
“I’m a very stubborn person, so maybe he said that on purpose for me to have a good result here.”
Guaff, who was making her second appearance at the Wuhan Open, trailed 3-0 in the second set but dug deep to reduce the deficit to 5-3 before claiming four straight games to seal victory.
At 5-4, Pegula had the chance to force a final-set decider on serve but was broken emphatically by a relentless Gauff.
“You’re the three-set queen,” she told Pegula on court, “so I was determined not to let you get there today because I felt like the odds would be in your favour in the third set.”
Pegula had played in final-set deciders in all eight of her previous matches at the Wuhan Open, while Gauff had finished off all of hers in straight sets.
“It’s an honour to play you, as a friend and fellow American in the final,” added a gracious Pegula.
“It’s our first final, so that was a lot of fun being able to play.”
It was their seventh career meeting and first in a final. Pegula leads 4-3 overall against Gauff, with whom she has won several WTA doubles titles. Gauff improved to 11-3 in finals; Pegula dropped to 9-11.