Coco Gauff wins WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh with comeback over Zheng Qinwen

Coco Gauff won the WTA Tour Finals for the first time with a comeback win over Zheng Qinwen in Riyadh Saturday.

World No. 3 Gauff recovered from losing the first set 6-3, from going down 1-3 in the second set and from 3-5 in the third to win over $4.8million (£3.7m) in the first of three Tour Finals to be held in Saudi Arabia. She triumphed 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2), in the first final at the event to be decided by a third-set tiebreak since it began in 1972. She is the first American to win the event since Serena Williams in 2014, and at 20, she is the youngest champion since Maria Sharapova in 2004.

“It’s like the second-biggest title in our sport. So yeah, it means a lot, and just to be etched in history forever, it’s pretty cool,” she said in a news conference after the match.

Gauff defeated world No. 2 Iga Swiatek and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka en route to the final, using her world-class defense and new-found solidity behind her forehand to pressurize her opponents and outlast them on the error counts. Gauff and Sabalenka both hit 13 winners Friday, but Gauff made 29 unforced errors to Sabalenka’s 45. Against Swiatek, Gauff lost the winner count 10-15 but hit 33 unforced errors to Swiatek’s 47.

Against Zheng, Gauff repeated the trick, going even with Zheng at 24 winners apiece but hitting 46 unforced errors to Zheng’s 56, just 14 of them coming on the American’s perceived weaker forehand side. Zheng, having led on multiple occasions, felt that she had let an opportunity slip away.

“I lost the match basically on my mistakes,” she said afterwards.

After an uneasy summer, in which she exited Wimbledon, the Olympics and the U.S. Open early and split with coach Brad Gilbert, Gauff ends the season with a 13-2 run of 15 matches and two titles, in Riyadh and in Beijing. She praised critics for motivating her both in her news conference and later on X, saying that she embraced her pettiness in her bid to improve her form.

muah 💋💜 Also, I know 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! I thank you for that. I see you and I appreciate you. And I know some of you are a little bit petty like me so it does feel nice to… pic.twitter.com/z3rRFCsFYl

— Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) November 10, 2024

Zheng’s run to the final only adds to the feeling that this is her breakout season, with Olympic gold and the Australian Open final to go alongside her run in Riyadh. She ends the year as world No. 5, a new career high, only four points behind Jasmine Paolini at world No. 4. Gauff is now 1,840 points behind world No. 2 Iga Swiatek, with Aryna Sabalenka ending the year as world No. 1:

The majority of the Tour Finals field will now take a break until late December, when the tennis season resumes. Iga Swiatek and Jasmine Paolini will first represent their countries in the Billie Jean King Cup, which begins November 13 in Malaga, Spain.

(Top photo: Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images for WTA)