WTA Finals: Coco Gauff beats Zheng Qinwen in remarkable final
Coco Gauff showed resilience against Zheng Qinwen to win the season-ending WTA Finals.
The American beat the Olympic champion 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2) in Saudi Arabia in a thrilling showdown that lasted more than three hours.
At 20, she is the youngest player to win the event since Maria Sharapova two decades ago and the youngest American since Serena Williams in 2001.
“It was a great game and I just tried to hold on and I never gave up,” Goff told Sky Sports.
“Sometimes you might think (you’re not going to win), but I just pushed that thought aside. I told myself, ‘One more point, another chance’.”
“I’ve been in situations like this in the past and I was able to turn it around and I just hope I can do that again today.”
In Saturday’s match, Gauff became the youngest player to reach the WTA Championship Finals since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.
She didn’t drop a set along the way and beat world No. 1 and No. 2 Sabalenka and Swiatek, and against Zheng, she put pressure on her opponent early on.
In the pair’s second meeting – Gauff won the first break point in straight sets in Rome earlier this year – 22-year-old Zheng Zhi was forced to save four break points, including in the fifth game Three break points in the match.
But China’s seventh seed got a decisive break in the opening game, when Gauff double-faulted after a hat-trick of unforced errors, giving Zheng Zhi an advantage and a chance to serve to win the set.
The errors didn’t seem to have a bad effect on Gauff, however, and she found herself with a break point in the next game, but she squandered the opportunity before hitting a backhand into the net to hand her a solemn set.
Zheng’s serve is one of her strongest weapons, but she struggled to show it against Gauff. At the beginning of the second set, she broke Gauff’s serve again, and she was able to win in only four games. Got the first of ace.
With renewed determination, the American restored parity with a brilliant comeback before the pair traded breaks again. But the calm Gauff broke Zheng Zhi’s serve for the third consecutive game and dragged the game into the deciding game.
At the beginning of the third set, Gauff saved three break points and then solemnly regained control of the serve before conceding the ball, but this was only temporary.
Gauff soon broke serve and her excellent play at the net was rewarded when Zheng Zhi hit a long forehand and then saved love again.
Zheng Zhi then won three games in a row, losing only four points along the way, and seemed to be heading towards victory. But a service error during the match put Gauff back in contention.
That was the start of Team USA’s own three-game winning streak, and her revelry came to a halt as Zheng earned two championship points, ensuring the match would be decided in a tiebreaker.
Gauff was in complete control of the match and fell to the ground when her forehand hit the net.
Earlier on Saturday, second seeds Erin Rutliff and Gabriella Dabrowski won the doubles title in Riyadh.
The New Zealand-Canadian pair avenged their loss in the Wimbledon final by defeating American Taylor Townsend and Czech Katrina Siniakova 7-5 6-3.
