Coco Gauff won her biggest title since the 2023 US Open at the China Open, and she was rewarded with a significant rise in the rankings.
The 20-year-old experienced a difficult spell after the clay court season. Gauff had been performing solidly in the year's opening months, winning the ASB Classic in Auckland and reaching the semifinals of the Australian and French Opens.
A straight-sets defeat to Emma Navarro in the fourth round of Wimbledon began Gauff's drop in form. She then failed to win a medal at the Olympics despite entering the women's singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles.
After early defeats in Toronto and Cincinnati, she failed to defend her US Open title. Navarro again defeated Gauff in the fourth round of a Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows, this time in three sets.
That run of results led Gauff to split with Brad Gilbert. Despite his experience and being in the American's team for her historic US Open success, Gilbert did not seem to know how to help her during matches.
The China Open was Gauff's first tournament since making that change. Her poor previous results and making a coaching change so late in the season meant not many expected the 2022 French Open runner-up to challenge for the title in Beijing.
However, Gauff silenced her doubters by winning the China Open title, recovering from losing the first set in her previous three matches before the final. Anyone questioning the two-time WTA 1000 winner's mentality was proved wrong.
Gauff does not get much time to celebrate that success. She immediately heads to the Wuhan Open, with her first match at the final WTA 1000 event of the season set for Wednesday.
The 20-year-old has also received a rankings boost. Gauff had dropped from No. 2 all the way down to No. 6 after failing to defend her points from last year's North American hardcourt season.
Winning the China Open title means Gauff will jump two places from No. 6 to No. 4. She overtakes Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini, and the American will sit on 5,593 points.
Gauff will not be able to reclaim her spot at No. 2 before the season ends. Aryna Sabalenka has over 3,000 more points, and the Belarusian will overtake Iga Swiatek at No. 1 if she reaches the quarter-final of the Wuhan Open.
However, Gauff has a realistic chance of finishing the season at No. 3 and as the American No. 1. She is less than 400 points behind her Olympics doubles partner Jessica Pegula, who currently holds 5,945 points.
Gauff's hopes of overtaking Pegula before the end of the season are enhanced by the number of points the older American drops from her run at last year's WTA Finals the week after the Wuhan Open. Pegula was the runner-up to Swiatek at the 2023 iteration of the year-end tournament.
The former Grand Slam champion has a chance of ending the year at No. 3 if she shows the incredible mentality seen during her China Open run, but playing again so quickly could be challenging.
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