Coco Gauff's mother Candi sends loving message to elated American ahead of her Wuhan Open final against Jessica Pegula

On Saturday, October 11, Coco Gauff outdid Jasmine Paolini in a decisive fashion to storm into the finals of the Wuhan Open. Reacting to this win, Candi Gauff penned a loving message for her daughter as the elated American gears up to take on Jessica Pegula in the summit clash.

Gauff arrived in Wuhan after a strong campaign at the China Open, where she made it to the semifinals before going down against eventual champion Amanda Anisimova. At the Wuhan Open, the 21-year-old kicked off her campaign in an impeccable manner, claiming straight set wins in her first three matches.

On Saturday, Coco Gauff went up against Jasmine Paolini for her semifinals match at the WTA 500. The American disposed of the seventh seed 6-4, 6-3 and celebrated exuberantly afterwards. Sharing a snap of an elated Gauff on her Instagram story, the tennis star's mother Candi wrote,

“Pure joy! ❤️❤️”

Via @candigauff on Instagram

Coco Gauff reflects on her semifinals win, shares her honest opinion about upcoming clash with Jessica Pegula

Prior to their clash at the Wuhan Open, Coco Gauff had lost three consecutive matches to Jasmine Paolini. However, the 21-year-old was finally able to get her revenge this time around as she disposed of the Italian in straight sets. Reflecting on her win over Paolini, Gauff said in an on-court interview,

"I'm really happy with how I played today. It was tough, especially playing on the serve. But I did what I needed to do to get through. I’m just going to focus on my side of the court and try to control the things I can control."

As she gears up for the finals, the American also shared her thoughts about facing Jessica Pegula, saying,

“Jess is so dangerous, especially on hard courts. It’s going to be a tough, interesting final.”

On the other end, Pegula is also expecting an exciting battle against Gauff, having told media after her win over Aryna Sabalenka,

“It’ll be awesome playing Coco in a final here. We know each other so well. There’s no secrets -- we know what we’re going to try and do and what our gameplans are. It’s just going to be who can execute it the best.”

Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula have previously competed against each other six times. While Pegula has won the majority of these encounters, Gauff did get the better of the 31-year-old the last time they faced each other.

Edited by Riddhi Acharya