The first semi-final of the 2024 Wuhan Open tennis tournament kicked off, and the two Grand Slam champions Sabalenka and Gauff staged a peak showdown, in which Sabalenka won two sets in a row after losing one set to advance to the final, waiting for the winner of Zheng Qinwen and Wang Xinyu.
Sabalenka, ranked No. 2 in the world, has won three Grand Slam titles in her career, the Australian Open in 2023 and 2024, the US Open in 2024, and has won more than 50 WTA matches this year, including 15 consecutive victories at the Wuhan Open to win the 2018 and 2019 Wuhan Open.
On the other hand, Gauff is a talented tennis girl in United States, only 20 years old this year, but she has already won a Grand Slam title, and in the final of the US Open in 2023, Gauff defeated Sabalenka to win the first Grand Slam title of her career. Gauff rose to fame at a young age and has already won seven singles and eight doubles titles in his career. This year, he reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the French Open, and reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon and the US Open, and is now ranked No. 4 in the world.
Sabalenka and Gauff have met seven times before, with Gauff having a slight advantage with 4 wins and 3 losses, and the last time the two met was in the semifinals of the Australia Open earlier this year, when Sabalenka defeated Gauff and eventually successfully defended her Australian Open title. In the just-concluded China Open, Sabalenka was eliminated by Mukhova and stopped in the quarterfinals, while Gauff reached the final and defeated Mukhova to win the championship.
In the first set of the match, Gauff quickly got into the game, breaking the tie as soon as he came up, and took a wave of 3-0 lead, and Sabalenka was completely suppressed, losing three games in a row. In the fourth game, Sabalenka's serve was broken again by Gauff, and Gauff led Sabalenka 4-0. Sabalenka won only one game in the first set, losing 1-6, and Gauff led Sabalenka 1-0.
In the second set, Gauff broke Sabalenka's serve as soon as she came up, but Sabalenka immediately broke back and tied it 1-1. In the 3rd game, Gauff broke Sabalenka's serve again, but in the 4th game, Gauff's serve had 2 game points, and the serve was double-faulted and Sabalenka broke and the two sides were tied 2-2. In the fifth game, Sabalenka's serve was broken again, and Gauff took the lead again at 3-2. In the 6th game, Gauff took the lead to complete the hold and extended the lead 4-2. In the 7th game, Sabalenka also kept serve and recovered a point 3-4. In the crucial 8th game, Gauff made two consecutive double faults on serve, and Sabalenka seized the opportunity and successfully broke to chase the score to a 4-4 draw. In the 9th game, Sabalenka successfully held serve after several twists and turns, overtaking the score and leading Gauff 5-4. In the 10th game, Gauff made a double mistake and was successfully broken by Sabalenka, 6-4, Sabalenka pulled back a set, and the two sides tied 1-1. In the deciding set, Gauff still couldn't get rid of the problem of double faults on serve, and lost another set 4-6, and Sabalenka reversed to advance, aiming for a third consecutive title.
The other semi-final of the Wuhan Open featured two Chinese goldenrods in a Chinese derby, with Zheng Qinwen and Wang Xinyu both reaching the semi-finals of the Wuhan Open for the first time, with Zheng Qinwen currently ranked 7th in the world and Wang Xinyu ranked 39th in the world, having not faced each other in their careers. Zheng Qinwen is competing for qualification for the year-end finals and urgently needs to grab points to establish an advantage, so in this semi-final, Zheng Qinwen has a stronger desire to win, as long as he reaches the final, he can grab 650 points, so as to continue to expand the lead over Navarro, so as to lock a place in the year-end finals.