Gauff is the first American player to lift the trophy since Serena Williams in 2015.
The second-ranked American dug deep to claim a 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-4 victory and her second major title after also defeating Sabalenka at the 2023 US Open.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka battled past four-times champion Iga Swiatek to reach her first French Open final on Thursday with a 7-6(1) 4-6 6-0 victory that ended the Pole's reign in Paris and snapped her 26-game winning streak in the tournament.
The 21-year-old was the runner-up to Iga Swiatek in a one-sided showpiece match in 2022.
Reigning Madrid Open champion Iga Swiatek suffered a crushing semi-final defeat by Coco Gauff on Thursday, with the American triumphing 6-1, 6-1.
Coco Gauff said she was "disappointed but not completely crushed" after her scintillating start to the year came to an abrupt halt in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Badosa reached a Slam semi-final for the first time in her career -- the first Spanish woman to do so since Garbine Muguruza at Melbourne in 2020.
Coco Gauff wrote "RIP TikTok USA" and drew a broken heart on a camera lens shortly after reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals on Sunday after the popular app used by 170 million Americans stopped working in the United States.
The 20-year-old's exit means Serena Williams remains the last woman to successfully defend the US Open title back in 2014.
"Some players' goal is to win a Grand Slam. Once they reach that, it's kind of what's next?" Gauf said on Friday
Coco Gauff held her nerve to beat Elina Svitolina in a gruelling three-set final on Sunday to retain her Auckland Classic title in an ideal warm-up for the Australian Open.
Let’s revisit the cream of the crop from a stellar year.
Gauff, 19, produced a gutsy performance on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 2hr 6min to complete a fairytale transformation in her season's fortunes.
American teenager Coco Gauff shrugged off a 50-minute stoppage caused by climate protesters to power into the US Open final on Thursday with a straight sets defeat of Karolina Muchova.
Djokovic shrugged off ninth seed Fritz 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 to extend his dominance of American players in New York and take another step closer to a record-extending 24th men's Grand Slam title.
Coco Gauff won the final 10 games of her match against Elise Mertens, completing a 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 comeback and reaching the US Open round of 16, where she will face Caroline Wozniacki on Sunday.
Sixth seed Gauff, seen as one of the favourites for the title after recent tournament wins in Washington and Cincinnati, came from behind to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in an attritional 2hr 50min tussle on the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Swiatek blitzed 80th-ranked Wang Xinyu of China 6-0, 6-0 on the back of 21 winners as the 22-year-old Pole took another step closer to becoming the first woman since Justine Henin in 2007 to win back-to-back titles at Roland Garros.
World number eight Daria Kasatkina has given the thumbs down to the idea of "trash-talking" between professional tennis players, saying that disparaging or boastful comments under the guise of banter would not work well in an "intelligent" sport.
