Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs sees positives for Coco Gauff despite nightmare serving display in Wuhan Open loss to Aryna Sabalenka

Serena Williams' former coach, Rennae Stubbs recently highlighted the positives she observed in Coco Gauff during her match against Aryna Sabalenka in their semifinal at the 2024 Wuhan Open. This match marked the eighth encounter between Sabalenka and Gauff on the WTA tour.

Sabalenka is the top seed at the WTA 1000 hardcourt tournament in Wuhan, while Gauff was seeded fourth. Both players began their campaign in the second round after receiving first-round byes.

Coco Gauff kicked off her campaign by defeating Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round, followed by a victory over 13th seed Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-1 in the third round. The World No.4 then triumphed over Magda Linette 6-0, 6-4 in the quarterfinals to secure her spot in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, double defending champion Aryna Sabalenka overcame Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 6-4, Yulia Putintseva 1-6, 6-4, 6-0, and Magdalena Frech 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the final four at the Wuhan Open.

In the semifinals, Sabalenka defeated Gauff 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 to secure her place in her third consecutive Wuhan final. Her win was made easy after Gauff played a season-high 21 double faults during the match.

After the match, Serena Williams' former coach Rennae Stubbs took to social media to commend the standard of the match. She also mentioned that if Gauff improves her second serve technique, she will be able to secure more wins.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Stubbs said,

"Amazing how good the standard was for the Gauff Sabalenka match, with one exception. If Coco can fix this 2nd serve technique she isn’t going to lose much playing like this. Hitting the ground strokes huge and playing so well right now. Gutsy win in the end for Aryna."

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Aryna Sabalenka will face Zheng Qinwen in Wuhan Open 2024 final

Following her win over Coco Gauff in the semifinals of the 2024 Wuhan Open, Aryna Sabalenka is scheduled to face Zheng Qinwen in the final. The former World No.1, is aiming to secure her fourth WTA title of the season and her 17th WTA title overall.

Zheng is seeded fifth in the WTA 1000 hard court tournament in Wuhan and like Sabalenka and Gauff, she started her campaign in the second round after receiving a first-round bye.

Zheng defeated wildcard Jaqueline Cristian 6-2, 6-4 in the opening round, Leylah Fernandez 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 in the third round, Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals, and Wang Xinyu 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals to secure her spot in the final

Aryna Sabalenka and Zheng Qinwen have met three times on the WTA tour, with the former winning all three match-ups. Their most recent encounter was in the quarterfinals of the 2024 US Open, where Sabalenka emerged victorious 6-1, 6-2. The Belarusian then went on to win the New York Major by defeating Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in the final and in turn secured her third Grand Slam title overall.