Coco Gauff rides highs and lows to win first WTA Finals trophy
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Tennis - WTA Finals - King Saud University Indoor Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - November 9, 2024 Coco Gauff of the U.S. celebrates with the trophy after winning the women's singles final against China's Qinwen Zheng REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel
RIYADH – Coco Gauff had a bitterly disappointing summer but on Nov 9 the American was able to celebrate lifting her first WTA Finals trophy, regaining her confidence after a string of frustrating defeats to end 2024 on a high note.
The 20-year-old showed her mettle against China’s Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the Riyadh finale, coming back from a set down and holding her nerve through a gritty 3hr 4min affair to win 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
The first WTA Finals title for Gauff was made sweeter after a mid-year derailment, when attempts to rebuild her serve led to repeated frustrations on the tour and a coaching shake-up.
“It’s been a long season,” she said with the gleaming silver trophy in her hand in Riyadh, thanking her family and team for sticking with her through the ups and the downs.
Gauff's year had started on the right track as she won in Auckland and reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open. But the season began to crumble with a fourth-round defeat at Wimbledon and third-round exit at the Paris Games.
She was unable to reset for her US Open title defence after shock early exits in Toronto and Cincinnati and left New York after a dreadful fourth-round defeat by Emma Navarro, where she was plagued by 19 double faults.
Gauff split from coach Brad Gilbert and flipped the script weeks later, however, winning her second WTA 1000 title in October at the China Open before reaching the Wuhan Open last four.
It was clear she had got back to top form in Riyadh as she beat her key antagonist, Poland’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek, in the group stage and battled past the top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus to reach the championship match.
“I know (I) tend to focus on ‘doubters/haters’ but this one is really for all of my supporters! Ya’ll held it down for me win or lose!” Gauff wrote in a post on X after clinching her ninth career WTA Tour singles title.
“I know some of you are a little bit petty like me so it does feel nice to silence them for a bit.”
The youngest player to win the season-ending WTA Finals since the 17-year-old Maria Sharapova two decades ago, Gauff leaves the first professional women’s tennis tournament in Saudi Arabia more than US$4.8 million (S$6.4 million) richer and with a WTA title at every level.
In her third consecutive WTA Finals appearance, she is also the first American champion since Serena Williams in 2014.
“Safe to say I beat the bad season allegations,” wrote Gauff.
She stormed to a 6-0 lead in the final-set tiebreak before easing to victory, falling to the court in celebration as she clinched the year-end world No. 3 ranking for the second straight time.
It was the longest showpiece match at the WTA Finals since 2008 when times were first recorded.
“I was just trying my best to hang in there and I never gave up,” a delighted Gauff said.
Zheng, seeded seventh and making her WTA Finals debut, won the first set in just under an hour, saving all five break points she faced to keep Gauff at bay.
The Chinese got a 3-1 head start in the second set but Gauff fought back, breaking Zheng to love in the sixth game and converting another break point in the eighth before the pair traded breaks to close out the set.
Zheng put the American on the back foot early in the third, where Gauff twice found herself down a break, and had victory within her reach as she served for the match at 5-4.
But she was undone by four unforced errors, allowing Gauff to level, and the American was dominant through the tiebreak.
Gauff also won her only previous match with Zheng in May, an Italian Open quarter-final victory in Rome.
Zheng is just the second Asian woman, after Li Na in 2013, to reach the singles championship match at a WTA Finals.
The 22-year-old wraps up her breakthrough 2024 campaign having won 31 of her last 37 matches, and will rise to a career-high No. 5 in the world on Nov 11.
“The match today came down to just a couple of important points. It was very close. And at the end, when you play these type of matches, it’s not about tennis, it’s about choices on court,” said Zheng. REUTERS, AFP
