Revitalized Coco Gauff Guns for Back-to-Back WTA 1000 Titles in Wuhan
by Lou Aguila | by Tyler Doty
Coco Guaff Targets 2024 Wuhan Open Victory
The next three days of competition at the 2024 Wuhan Open are going to produce some of the highest quality of tennis this season with American tennis sensation Coco Gauff looking poised for another title run after ruling the tournament in Beijing a week ago.
Ripe for your WTA tennis predictions, the Wuhan Open is the second of two WTA 1000 events in China during the Asian swing of the WTA Tour this year. The first was the 2024 China Open where Coco Gauff recaptured her winning form to dismantle Karolina Muchova 6-1 6-3, earning herself a second WTA 1000 crown and first since the 2023 Cincinnati Open.
Gauff’s resurgence these past weeks has sent a message to her competitors that she’s finally back from a disappointing North American hard-court campaign, and she’s ready to compete for all the big titles left on the WTA Tour calendar.
Big Pressure for Gauff and Zheng
Gauff said in an interview earlier this week that she didn’t expect to win the China Open after going through a rough stretch a month ago.
Nevertheless, she’s grateful to win another title while educating her critics that it’s hard to win consistently at a high level of professional sports.
“People don’t realize people have great moments in sports and bad moments,” Gauff stated. “It doesn’t mean anything. I took inspiration from A’ja Wilson (WNBA forward playing for the Las Vegas Aces) She’s kind of like, ‘It’s hard to stay winning all the time. You need to go through losses to realize what you need to do to evolve.”
Another player on the tour who is facing enormous pressure to perform at a high level is China’s Zheng Qinwen. The 22-year-old Chinese has become the face of tennis in her home country after reaching the final of the 2024 Australian Open and winning China’s first women’s singles gold at the Olympics earlier this year.
Zheng stated that she appreciates the sudden popularity she has earned as a result of her performance in major tournaments this year. But, like Gauff, she addressed the great pressure she faces every time she competes for her country's honor.
“People have big expectations of me here. I hope I could stay here longer. But tennis is always tough to predict,” Zheng said in the interview. “Of course, there is pressure. I’m also feeling the responsibility as a leader of the new generation, meaning what you are saying is under public scrutiny.”
Wuhan Open Final Eight
After five days of top-notch tennis featuring the best women’s singles players on the planet, the field is down to the final eight.
No.4 seed Coco Gauff, who is eyeing a back-to-back WTA 1000 title, will face Magda Linette of Poland in the quarterfinals. Gauff made a quick of work of Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 6-1 to reach the round-of-8 while Linette pulled off a 6-2, 6-3 upset over Daria Kasatkina.
Zheng Qinwen completed a comeback win over Leylah Fernandez of Canada 5-7 6-3 6-0 to move into the next round where she’ll take on Jasmine Paolini of Italy, who destroyed Erika Andreeva 6-3, 6-2.
Sabalenka remains the favorite to win the Wuhan Open title, but Gauff leads a pack of competitors looking to make their mark on the Asian tour of the WTA tour.
Xin Wang looks to continue her Cinderella run as she squares it off with Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia. Wang shocked No.2 seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5 while Alexandrova dominated Hailey Baptiste 6-1 6-1.
World’s No.1 Aryna Sabalenka punched her ticket to the quarterfinal round as she hacked out 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 comeback win over Yulia Putintseva. Sabalenka, the Queen of the hard courts after ruling the US and Australian Open this year, will face the winner of the match Beatriz Haddad-Maia and Magdalena Frech.
Sabalenka remains the favorite to win the Wuhan Open title, but Gauff leads a pack of competitors looking to make their mark on the Asian tour of the WTA tour.
