American Coco Gauff, ranked third in the world, won her third career WTA 1000 title by defeating compatriot Jessica Pegula, ranked sixth, 6-4, 7-5 yesterday in the final of the Wuhan Open in China.

Gauff needed one hour and 42 minutes to secure her third win in seven meetings against her former doubles partner Pegula, adding the Wuhan title to her Cincinnati 2023 and Beijing 2022 WTA 1000 titles, compensating for her losses in the Madrid and Rome finals this year against Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and Italian Jasmine Paolini respectively.

This is Gauff’s 11th career title at age 21 and her second this year after winning the French Open, the second Grand Slam tournament, at Roland Garros, which was her second Grand Slam title after Flushing Meadows in 2023.

Gauff and Pegula have won five doubles titles together: two WTA 500 titles (San Diego 2022 and Doha 2023), two WTA 1000 titles (Miami 2023 and Montreal 2025), and one Roland Garros 2024 title.

Gauff became the first player in the Open Era to win her first nine finals on hard courts.

The two players took contrasting paths to the final, with Gauff losing only 16 games, while Pegula struggled to win three sets in all eight of her matches in China.

Gauff will strengthen her position at world No. 3, narrowing the gap with Polish No. 2 Iga Swiatek, who exited in the quarterfinals to Paolini, while Pegula, who dethroned Sabalenka in the Wuhan semifinal on Saturday, will move up one spot to No. 5.

Shanghai Masters

Valentin Vacherot from Monaco, ranked 204th in the world and a qualifier, won the Shanghai Masters 1000 title by defeating his cousin, French player Arthur Rinderknech, ranked 54th, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday in the final.

Vacherot, 26, became the lowest-ranked player to win a Masters 1000 tournament, surpassing Croatian Borna Coric, who won the 2022 Cincinnati Masters when ranked 152nd.

Vacherot, who will enter the top 40 in the world rankings on Monday, achieved his ninth consecutive win in Shanghai in front of the legendary Swiss Roger Federer, becoming the first player from Monaco to win a professional ATP tournament.

He continued his remarkable run by defeating Serbian Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, preventing Djokovic from winning the Shanghai title for the fifth time, and secured the third Masters 1000 final in history between two unseeded players.

On the other hand, 30-year-old Rinderknech achieved his best Masters 1000 run and will rise to No. 28 in the world rankings, making him the second French player after Hugo Humbert to reach a Masters 1000 final (in November 2024 in Paris).

However, Rinderknech will not join Guy Forget, Cédric Pioline, Sébastien Grosjean, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the list of French Masters 1000 champions, with Tsonga last winning in Canada in 2014.