Coco Gauff 'has found solution' to major problem despite Aryna Sabalenka collapse

Coco Gauff says she isn't "worried" despite suffering a massive collapse against Aryna Sabalenka at the Wuhan Open.

The American blitzed through the first set in under half an hour and was close to ending Sabalenka’s unbeaten streak in Wuhan when she led 6-1 4-2.

The double faults started to creep in and Gauff went on to lose 1-6 6-4 6-4. But she believes she already has a "solution" to her serving problem.

Sabalenka had been in the form of her life in the previous round, hitting 42 winners during her straight-set win over Magdalena Frech. But the top seed was blown off the court by Gauff, who raced into a 5-0 lead in 19 minutes when they met in the semi-final.

The second set became more of a battle - the first five games were breaks. When Gauff served to extend her lead at 4-3, things started to unravel. She suddenly hit three double faults to get broken and went on to lose seven games in a row before Sabalenka beat her.

The 20-year-old ended the match with 21 double faults. But she insisted that she had already found a solution to her serving woes.

Asked whether the double faults were the result of her new technique or if she'd reverted back to her old ways, Gauff replied: "New things. Yeah, working on a new thing.

"It's expected. I only had really a week to learn it, then I went to Beijing. I knew it wasn't going to be great. I'm honestly, like, surprised of how well I was able to do with it. We weren't expecting it. So yeah, I mean, overall it's growing pains, ups and downs."

The world No. 4 hired a new coach, Matt Daly, a week before the China Open in Beijing started. But she benefitted from more time to work on her new serve in Beijing compared to Wuhan, where players compete daily.

She continued: "Like, vice versa to Beijing. I had a day in between every day to work on it, whereas here it was kind of back-to-back. I think it was progressively just becoming harder because I got used to getting those reps in between the matches in Beijing."

Gauff is still happy with her Asian swing after lifting the title in Beijing and getting to the last four in Wuhan. And she believes Saturday's performance doesn't "take away" the serving she did last week.

While the shot has been a key problem in Gauff's game recently - she hit 19 double faults in her US Open loss to Emma Navarro - the world No. 4 is confident in the knowledge that she has already fixed the issue and needs time for it to work.

"Yeah, I mean, there is moments in the match where you are just like, I just want to leave the court. I think for me, I didn't want myself to go into that mentality because it's not going to change anything. I was just trying to be positive. Today it didn't work," she added.

"But considering the moments in Beijing against Paula, I was down a set and a break, things like that, the mentality was positive. Overall I think it does help."

Sabalenka herself also experienced serving issues before hiring a specialist in 2022 - something that gives Gauff a boost. She explained: "Yeah, I mean, it does give me confidence. I know she had a similar double-faulting issue. It does give me confidence knowing that everybody - not everybody - but a lot of players go through this.

"Yeah, honestly, for me I'm not worried because I found the solution. I didn't really have time to work on it. Yeah, I'm really happy with how the last couple weeks went. I'm just trying to be positive from there."