WUHAN  -  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 number four’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. Three-times Grand Slam winner Sabalen­ka found it hard to control her returns when Gauff got the first serve right, repeat­edly overshooting the lines or finding the net.

Former U.S. Open cham­pion Gauff broke twice to build a 5-0 lead, with Sa­balenka holding only once in the first set, which Gauff won with a forehand that left the world number two rooted to the spot across the court. Sabalenka started the second set on an aggres­sive note, summoning the best of her strength on the shots. She finally found suc­cess as Gauff struggled to hold her own serve.

Gauff’s double faults coupled with slower, ner­vous second serves allowed Sabalenka to pressure her with power shots as the Belarusian won four games in a row to win the second set 6-4. Sabalenka’s win­ning momentum continued in the third set as she went 4-1 up before Gauff got her first break in the set to make it 4-4. However, Sabalenka took control again, getting another break to win the match. “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.”