Coco Gauff aims to beat Aryna Sabalenka for the seventh time on the women’s tour in Thursday’s decisive WTA Finals match in the Steffi Graf group.

The world No. 3 responded to her loss to Jessica Pegula by defeating Jasmine Paolini in straight sets, and she will need to perform at an even higher level to beat Sabalenka in a rematch of this year’s French Open final, which the American won in straight sets.

Match preview

Gauff may be well versed in winning ugly, but the American No. 1 will undoubtedly prefer playing as well as she did on Tuesday, when she beat Paolini in just over an hour.

It took 78 minutes to get the better of the Italian player, 6-3, 6-2, keeping her dream of consecutive triumphs in Riyadh alive after winning the title 12 months ago.

Having double-faulted 17 times in

See Full Page