Sabalenka surges into Wuhan Open final; Sinner to finish year as world No 1

Holder Aryna Sabalenka fought back from a first-set stumble to beat Coco Gauff 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the Wuhan Open semi-finals as double faults proved to be the American’s undoing on Saturday. The 20-year-old Gauff, who has made some grip changes with new coach Matt Daly, made 21 double faults as top seed Sabalenka, who struggled against the world No 4’s power earlier in the match, swung the momentum in her favour. “Couple of mistakes from her and I thought maybe I still have [a] chance in this match … it was a very important win,” Sabalenka said in the post-match interview after reaching the Wuhan Open final for the third time in a row. The Belarusian will face the winner of an all-Chinese semi-final later on Saturday between fifth seed Zheng Qinwen, who won Olympic gold in Paris this year, and Wang Xinyu. “I’m really happy to be in the final. One more to go and I will do everything I can to win this beautiful trophy for the third time,” Sabalenka said. “It will be a great match.” Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner beat Tomas Machac 6-4, 7-5 to reach the Shanghai Masters final and ensured he finishes the year as world No 1. Sinner will face either Novak Djokovic – a four-time Shanghai champion – or world No 7 Taylor Fritz in the final on Sunday.