Coco Gauff progressed to the final of the 2024 China Open after a three-set comeback win against Paula Badosa in the last four.
The world No 6 earned a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 triumph against Badosa in the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 event in Beijing.
Badosa was in a strong position to reach the title match when she led 6-4, 4-2, but Gauff won four straight games to turn the second set around.
Gauff then broke Badosa three times en route to winning the third set convincingly to reach her first final since the Auckland Open in January.
The 21-year-old American is playing her first tournament since adding Matt Daly to her coaching team, having split with Brad Gilbert after the US Open last month.
“I feel like I was playing the right way the whole time, other than maybe a lot of double faults,” Gauff said. “But other than that, I was playing the right way. Just missing sometimes. She was playing a very high level.
“I was just trying to get on the scoreboard and keep trying to get points on the scoreboard. They turned into games. I was trying to stay in the moment.”
Gauff’s run to the final in Beijing has increased her points total by 260 points to 5,243 in the live WTA Rankings.
This puts her just 50 points behind world No 5 Jasmine Paolini and 238 points below fourth-ranked Elena Rybakina.
If Gauff were to claim the title, she would earn a further 350 points and take her tally to 5,593, which would see her leapfrog Paolini and Rybakina into the world No 4 spot.
The American reached a career-high ranking of world No 2 in June this year, but she dropped to sixth last month after her US Open title defence ended with a fourth round exit
Holding a position in the top four of the rankings can be a significant advantage at big tournaments as the top four seeds cannot face each other until at least the semi-finals.
Gauff is seeking her eighth WTA singles title, and second at WTA 1000 level, in Beijing in what will be her ninth career final. She will take on world No 49 Karolina Muchova in the championship match on Sunday.
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