Coco Gauff beats Jessica Pegula to win Wuhan Open title

WUHAN, China — Coco Gauff reeled off four straight games to beat Jessica Pegula 6-4, 7-5 and win the Wuhan Open on Sunday in an all-American final.

Gauff, 21, won her second title of the year, having claimed the French Open on clay, and she now has 11 career titles.

“Winning every match (in the tournament) in straight sets, I don’t know if I’ve done that before on a title run,” Gauff said. “I just felt like I was really proud of what I accomplished this week, regardless of the result today.”

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The third-ranked Gauff served to save the second set at 5-3 down. She held and then broke the sixth-ranked Pegula to love for 5-5.

Pegula’s forehand volley at the net landed wide to give Gauff a first match point and, with Pegula on second serve, she clinched it with a forehand winner following a brief rally.

The 31-year-old Pegula rallied to beat top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. But this time she lost momentum and missed out on a 10th career title as Gauff became the second American to claim the Wuhan title after Venus Williams in 2015.

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.

“We’ve spent a lot of time together and, even though I’m a bit older, I always admire and respect her so much,” Pegula said of Gauff. “She’s just so mature for her age.”

Gauff improved to 11-3 in finals; Pegula dropped to 9-11.