Coco Gauff makes history with Wuhan Open title

Coco Gauff: The hard-court queen

Furthermore, the victory marked her ninth career title on hard courts, following her triumphs at the 2019 Linz Open, 2023 Auckland Open, 2023 Washington Open, 2023 Cincinnati Open, 2023 U.S. Open, 2024 Auckland Open, 2024 China Open and 2024 WTA Finals.

Gauff is now 9-0 in her career in hard-court finals, with all three of her finals losses — 2022 French Open, 2025 Madrid Open and 2025 Italian Open — taking place on clay courts. According to WTAtennis.com, Gauff is the first player in the Open Era to maintain a perfect record through the first nine hard-court finals of her career. OptaAce noted that the last player to go 9-0 on the surface was the retired Serena Williams. 

Can Coco Gauff finish the year World No. 1?

Gauff, with 7,873 points in the Live WTA Rankings, is now just 895 shy of surpassing No. 2 Iga Swiatek, after starting the Wuhan Open 1,290 points behind her Polish rival. While she has decent odds of finishing the year as World No. 2, it's mathematically impossible for her to leapfrog No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka before the end of 2025.

That's because the season will end at the 2025 WTA Finals, where up to 1,500 points are at stake. A win for Gauff, the defending champ in Riyadh, would still leave her more than 1,000 points behind the world No. 1 Belarusian at the season's close. 

However, Gauff is now guaranteed to finish the year as the No. 1-ranked American player for a third consecutive season. Entering the Wuhan Open, she faced stiff competition from No. 4 Amanda Anisimova, who defeated her in the semifinal at Beijing in September. Anisimova's decision to withdraw from this week's Ningbo Open put an end to her pursuit.