Gauff and Pegula rally to win the Wuhan title in the all-American final

Coco Gauff, the French Open champion, defeated fellow American Jessica Pegula 6-4 7-5 in Sunday’s final after overcoming a two-break deficit in the second set to win her third WTA 1000 title and her first in Wuhan.

Last year’s Wuhan semifinalist Gauff fell behind 0-3 in the second set but rallied to cut the gap to 3-5 before winning four straight games to win in straight sets.

In 2025, the 21-year-old reached her third final at this level after placing second in Madrid and Rome. She also won her 11th career WTA singles championship, adding to her WTA 1000 victories in Beijing (2024) and Cincinnati (2023).

The last woman to accomplish this record was Serena Williams, who won 12 straight hard-court finals between the 2013 U.S. Open and 2015 Cincinnati. Coco Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion and current world number three, is the first woman to do both.

It was the first time in their careers that Pegula and Gauff, who had previously partnered to win doubles titles in Miami and Doha in 2023, faced off in a final.

“One of the first persons to show me kindness and hostility when I arrived on tour was you, Pegula. “And that goes a long way and continues to go a long way,” Gauff stated when presenting the trophy.

Therefore, thank you. It’s also fantastic to play against you in the final at last.”

In the semi-final on Saturday, Pegula defeated world number one and reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka, ending her 20-match winning streak in Wuhan. Pegula has participated in 27 three-set matches in 2025.

In her previous eight matches, the 31-year-old has won seven of them and all of them have gone the whole distance.

“You’ve been playing a lot of three-setters — you’re a three-set queen,” Gauff commented.
Congratulations on a fantastic tournament, I would want to say. The chances seemed to favor you in a third set, so I was determined not to let you get there today.”