Coco Gauff is now also the WTA Finals champion after she was able to outplay Qinwen Zheng in the final of the tournament.
Both players had a tricky journey to the final of the year-end championship. Gauff outplayed World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-final of the tournament, while Zheng bested Barbora Krejcikova.
This would be a big tournament for both, even though the 20-year-old already has a Grand Slam trophy in her cabinet, while this would be the biggest trophy of Zheng's career.
In the first set of the match, the American started aggressively, having a break point already in the first game of the match, but she couldn't use it. She then had three more break points in the fifth game of the first set, but once again, she couldn't use them.
That came back to haunt her, as she was broken in the eighth game, falling behind 3-5. On top of that, she couldn't use another break point when Zheng was serving for the set, so the Chinese player won it 6-3.
In the second set, Gauff immediately fell behind, losing her serve in the first game. She was down 1-3 when she started an inspired comeback. The 20-year-old went from 1-3 to 5-3 very quickly, winning nine consecutive points in the process.
However, she wasted two set points on her serve, as Zheng almost staged a comeback in the second set. But Gauff was able to break again to win the second set 6-4 and force the decider.
The third set was full of different turns and twists. Zheng led 2-0 after a break, which she lost, as her opponent took a 3-2 lead. Zheng then broke again, leading 5-3, and she got very close to winning the match.
At 5-3, the Chinese player led 30-15, being only two points away from winning the match, but she couldn't get it done. On top of that, she was broken when serving for the set, and the match had to be decided in a tie-break.
Gauff was the better player in the tie-break, winning it 7-2 to win the match 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) and lift the 2024 WTA Finals trophy. Naturally, she was very happy after the match, thanking her team and her family.
"I’d like to thank my team. It’s been a long season. I want to say thank you. This week has been so fun. Win or lose, I always have a good time with you guys. Thank you to my parents. My mom is here. My dad is watching at home.. my brother.. my grandparents. Thank you to the man above for allowing me to be here."
During the trophy ceremony, the champion also recognized the host country, as well as former World No. 1, Garbine Muguruza, who serves as the tournament director for the WTA Finals.
"This is the first professional women’s tennis event in Saudi Arabia. I couldn’t be more honored to win the trophy. Thank you Garbine… Your first time as tournament director. You did an amazing job."