Coco Gauff was told not to play Wuhan Open before banking £446k in final win

Coco Gauff admitted that one of her coaches told her not to play the Asian swing at all, but she proved him wrong and went on to lift the Wuhan Open trophy. The world No. 3 won the last four games in a row in Sunday's final to beat Jessica Pegula 6-4 7-5, winning her second title of the season.

The American suffered a disappointing defeat in the fourth round of the US Open and was advised against returning to competition so soon. But she reached the semi-finals of last week's China Open in Beijing, and now ends this part of the season as the Wuhan champion.

As Gauff thanked her team during her victory speech, she put coach Jean-Christophe Faurel on the spot, admitting that she wanted to call him out.

The newly crowned champion said: "I'd like to thank my team, it was a great Asian swing. I'm going to call JC 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. But yeah, thank you guys.

"Thank you Richard, thank you Maria. We have a new addition this Asian swing, Joe, he's been a lot of fun, so I appreciate him. And then we have Gavin, he's in South Africa right now, also a new addition but very important to this process and this result, so thank you all.

"I know we have our ups and downs but this moment makes it worth it, so I appreciate you guys a lot."

The world No. 3 also paid tribute to her friend and rival, Pegula. Gauff and Pegula are former doubles partners and had faced off six times in the past, but this was their first meeting in a final.

Gauff added: "I'd like to congratulate Jess on an incredible tournament. You're playing a lot of three-setters, you're a three-set queen, so I was determined to not let you get there today because it felt like the odds would be in your favour in the third set!

"When I came on the tour, you were one of the first people to be nice to me and welcome me with open arms, and that really goes a long way, it still goes a long way, so I appreciate you and it's great to finally play in a final against you and I hope for many more.

"So congratulations and thank you, it's an honour to share the court with you. And congrats to your team, Mark, and the other Mark and John and Seba and everybody else!"

Gauff will now enjoy some time off before heading to Riyadh for the WTA Finals, where she is the defending champion.

The American will be full of confidence after lifting the trophy in Wuhan. She's now added another 1,000 points to her ranking and banked £446k ($596k) for her efforts.