Coco Gauff finally breaks through! The American star, who won the French Open this year, had been struggling to find her footing since June. Early exits followed, including a first-round crash at Wimbledon. But after picking up pace at the US Open, where she reached the round of 16, she’s finally holding another trophy. And the backstory of her rise in Wuhan might be her smartest move yet.

On Sunday, third-seeded Gauff took the trophy without dropping a set after a one-hour, 42-minute fight in the central Chinese city. In the first final ever between the former doubles partners, Gauff clawed back from multiple deficits in the second set to improve her record against Pegula to 3-4!

After the final, the American had a witty reveal about her coach. “It was a great Asian swing,” said Gauff, who made the semi-finals in Beijing last week before capping it off with the Wuhan title. “I’m going to call JC [Jean-Christophe Faurel, my coach] out. He originally didn’t want me to come because I had a tough US Open but I had to prove him wrong. I’m a very stubborn person so maybe he said that on purpose for me to have a good result here.”

The 21-year-old also became the first player in the Open Era to win her first nine hard-court finals. As Jose Morgado pointed out on X, Gauff has twice played spoiler to history this season. She stopped Iga Swiatek’s bid for a fourth straight Roland-Garros crown. Then she wrecked Aryna Sabalenka’s Wuhan four-peat attempt. She lifted the trophy both times.