Aryna Sabalenka said she took “belief” from Coco Gauff’s “mistakes”, after recovering from the 20-year-old’s dominant opening set to rally to 1-6 6-4 6-4 victory in the Wuhan Open semi-final.

Gauff started in incredulous style, going 5-0 up over the No. 1 seed in just 19 minutes as she displayed some of the most well-rounded tennis of her career. However, the American ultimately surrendered her advantage after crumbling on the serve – hitting 21 double-faults in the match.

Sabalenka seized upon Gauff’s capitulation, finding her groove to prevail and make it 16-0 in Wuhan after two blockbuster sets as the pair wooed the crowd with some incredible points at the back of the court.

“The atmosphere is incredible,” Sabalenka said in her on-court interview. “It definitely felt like one of the biggest matches of my career, the crowd wise. It’s another Grand Slam final match, thank you so much for the atmosphere.

“Coco is incredible player, we’ve had a lot of tough, tough battles in the past, she’s in great shape and I knew going into this match that it’s going to be tough and I’ll have to work really hard to get the win.

“I don’t know, a couple of mistakes from her and I got a little belief that I still have chances in this match. I’m really happy with this win. It’s a really important one.”

The American, who won the Beijing crown earlier this month, displayed some exceptional ball-striking in the early exchanges – denying the world No. 2 any opportunity to stamp her mark on the match, and providing an astute response to everything that came her way.

Also notable was Gauff’s ability to stifle Sabalenka’s game. The No. 1 seed, typically renowned for her sheer power on ground-strokes, could not impose her usual powerful prowess against Gauff. The No. 4 seed very quickly established a steely presence at the back of the court, evident as Sabalenka hit just two winners in the opening set – according to Sky Sports.

Even in cross-court forehand exchanges – where Sabalenka usually thrives – Gauff took on her strikes early and gave Sabalenka minimal time to set her shots.

Speaking to her sheer dominance, Gauff found herself 5-0 up within 19 minutes, but could not quite clinch the bagel set with Sabalenka finally holding on her third attempt.

She made no mistake in polishing off an incredible set – one of her most-complete since gracing the WTA scene – holding with aplomb to go 1-0 up in 28 minutes.

Sabalenka briefly headed off court in the interval, but that failed to halt Gauff’s blistering momentum. The Belarusian found herself at game point from deuce in search of her second hold of the match, but Gauff frustrated the former world No. 1 further with more imperious all-around court play to turn it into yet another break, Sabalenka responding by launching her racquet into the ground.

Sabalenka – though – responded with her own break, her first of the game, but again failed to follow that up on serve, the pair trading break-for-break until 2-2 as Gauff herself surrendered a service game with two consecutive double-faults at deuce.

Indeed, Gauff’s stray serving was the only issue with an otherwise near-perfect performance. The 2023 US Open champion finally found the breakthrough on her service game for 4-2, despite being pegged back to deuce with Sabalenka seizing a pair of weak second serves.

At 4-3, Gauff remarkably allowed Sabalenka a route back into the match with three consecutive double-faults to make it 11 for the match. Sabalenka was seemingly encouraged by her opponent’s struggles, and forged level at 1-1 as she began to find her trademark groove at the back of the court.

Sabalenka continued to seize upon Gauff’s loss of momentum, clinching her eighth-straight game to go 3-0 ahead in the final set, but the box-office action continued in topsy-turvy fashion as the American again re-found her feet to pull it back to 4-3.

But ultimately, Gauff’s impressive returns, ground-strokes and movement were all in vain as Sabalenka continued her perfect run in Wuhan, the American with her faulty serve to blame.

When asked about her perfect record in this particular province in China, and reaching three finals, Sabalenka said: “That sounds really crazy. I love this place.

“I feel like tennis in China is getting more popular. I’m really happy to be in the final, and I’ll give everything i can to win this beautiful trophy for the third time.”

Sabalenka will face either Qinwen Zheng or Wang Xinyu in the final, to which she responded: “Ouch, that’s not going to be easy. I know so many of you are supporting me. I have my team, my family, so many people around the world supporting me, so I’ll be focusing on that.

“And it’s going to be a great match, and I’ll be there, I’ll be fighting, and I’ll be enjoying the atmosphere no matter who you’re going to support.”