Daniil Medvedev moved to within one win of ending a title drought which stretches back nearly two and a half years as he booked the final of the ATP event in Kazakhstan.

The former world No. 1 ranked  14th, defeated Australian James Duckworth 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-2 to reach the final against Corentin Moutet, a 7-5, 6-4 winner over Ben Shelton.

Medvedev lifted his last title in May, 2023 in Rome and has gone dry since; he failed to fire in six finals since, including the US Open in 0223 and Australian Open in 2024

He lost the Halle final last June to Kazakh Alexander Bublik.

Medvedev advanced in a semi-final in just under two and a quarter hours against qualifier Duckworth. 

The second-seeded Medvedev is still in the chase for a spot in the eight-man season finals next month in Turin after reaching the final four in Beijing and Shanghai .

“I think the level was incredible today, from both me and my opponent,”  Medvedev said. “In the tie-break, I could have played better, but it happens

“Throughout the match, there were some amazing points from both of us, so I’m really happy to be able to win this match.”

Medvedev hammered 15 aces in victory  to reach his 40th ATP final, second-placed in that category behind the 143 of Novak Djokovic.

Coco Gauff rallied from the depths of a double break down in the second set to bury good friend Jessica Pegula 6-4, 7-5 to win the Wuhan Open on Sunday.

The American’s title win over her one-time doubles partner was not pretty, with seven breaks of serve in the second set. But Gauff finally prevailed as she regrouped to sweep the final four games to victory.

The 21-year-old Gauff earned her 11th career trophy, her first at the 1000 level this season after finals defeats in Madrid and Rome.

.Pegula and Gauff, won doubles titles back in the day at Miami and Doha two years ago and their history extends to the start of Gauff’s career.

“When I came on tour, you were one of the first people to be nice to me and welcome me with open arms,” she told the 31-year-old Pegula, . 

“That really goes a long way and still goes a long way. I appreciate you. And it’s great to finally play in a final against you.”

Pegula booked the final as she cut off the 20-match Wuhan win streak of world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who was closing in on a fourth straight title in the Chinese mega-city.

Main photo:- Coco Gauff with WTA Wuhan trophy – by WTATennis.com

Two-time titlewinner in Canada Jessica Pegula on Sunday threw shade on the extension of the summer hardcourt swing into a pair of masters events lasting for three weeks in total

The American who won Canadian trophies in 2024 and last summer, is withholding judgement on the WTA move to stretch the formerly one-week Masters events to roughly 11 days each for this event and the last major before the US Open, Cincinnati.

“It can seem really long, especially leading up to a slam, but I’m interested,” the American said.

“It’s not quite two weeks for each tournament, right? It’s 21 days. I think it’s a little bit of a hybrid between what we’ve seen with, like, Madrid and Rome or Indian Wells/Miami.”

She called the challenge “obviously longer than just having one week to finish everything.”

Pegula said she is reserving judgement of the controversial move which has riled some major players.

“I’m, honestly, interested to see how it turns out and how it feels for the players and for the fans; it’s kind of like meeting in the middle a little bit.”

But doubts remain for last autumn’s US Open runner-up.

“I’m not a fan of when they’re two weeks long. It can get really tough. I feel like Slams are two weeks, and so now turning everything almost into a Slam is really mentally draining. 

“I’m hoping that these two events feel like a good kind of middle ground, I guess I could say. It’s the first time we’ve done it, and I think we’re all going to have to get used to it, but I guess we’ll see how it goes.”