World No. 4 Coco Gauff weathered one of the toughest draws of this year’s US Open, surviving Paula Badosa in a tight second-round battle before beating Iva Jovic in the round of 16 and Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals. Her run finally ended in the semifinals against Elena Rybakina, and it came agonizingly close to going her way. Gauff cruised to a 6-3 first-set win, only for Rybakina to find another level and close it out 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 on her way to the title and bolster her world No. 1 ranking.
If Gauff wants to defend her Wuhan Open crown next, she is about to face another difficult draw head-on. The entire WTA top 10 is entered at the WTA 1000 event, and projections suggest she could need to beat as many as three top-10 opponents just to hold onto the trophy.
Wuhan is a mandatory WTA 1000 event on the tour, exclusive to the women’s tour alongside Doha and Dubai. Apart from the mandate, the exclusivity motivates the top players to come to the event and give their best.
The title she won in 2025 was one of the cleanest runs she has made in her career. She did not lose a set throughout the tournament, defeating Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima 6-1, 6-0 in a 51-minute demolition, followed by a 6-3, 6-2 win over home favorite Zhang Shuai, and then a 6-3, 6-0 win over Laura Siegemund to reach the semifinal. The American then broke Jasmine Paolini seven times to win 6-4, 6-3, before rallying from 0-3 down in the second set of the final to defeat Jessica Pegula in another straight-sets victory.
The run put her in a position to become the first female tennis player to go undefeated in her first nine hard-court finals, a feat that was previously accomplished by Serena Williams.
Coco Gauff has performed well against the top 10 this season, carrying an 5-6 record. She will have to extend her record in order to defend the title.
“Title defense just got even more competitive,” one fan wrote on X, capturing the scale of the challenge perfectly.
“They’re coming for my girl Coco,” one fan wrote with a crying emoji, while another added, “Got some defending to do.”
The impact of Rybakina’s own presence in the field cannot be overlooked, considering the current state of her season. Fresh off winning the US Open and rising to No. 1 for the first time in her career, she has made it clear she has no intention of easing off.
“I will try of course to push more and stay at the top as long as possible,” she said in her post-tournament interviews, a mindset one fan tied directly to the Wuhan draw. “Elena will be looking to win this,” they wrote.
Sabalenka’s name generated its own reaction, with fans noting she is chasing back the ranking she lost in New York, where her 99-week No. 1 streak ended. “She’s gonna have to hand it back to its original owner ASAP,” one fan wrote, crediting the Belarusian’s three Wuhan titles.
With all the top 10 confirmed, the stakes go beyond the trophy. Gauff trails Pegula by 21 ranking points, and a poor run in Wuhan can widen that gap significantly. Defending the title adds another perk: if she does, she’ll officially qualify for the WTA Finals, which is taking place in Indian Wells this year.
It’s a star-studded field, and the person to go out of Wuhan with the trophy will have fought the toughest version of this tournament.
