Coco Gauff will be playing in her maiden semifinals at the WTA Finals after she qualified thanks to multiple things going her way.
The easiest way to qualify for the semifinals at the WTA Finals is to win all three round-robin matches, but because all of the players competing are in the Top 8, it's not that simple. Yet, Iga Swiatek managed to do that this year, and so did Jessica Pegula.
But Gauff's journey wasn't so simple. She lost to Iga Swiatek, and because of that, she wasn't certain to make it to the semifinals, especially after she lost the opening set of the match against Marketa Vondrousova.
Eventually, the American won in three sets, but she still needed Ons Jabeur not to win her match in two sets. That didn't happen, meaning that the 19-year-old made it to her maiden WTA Finals semifinal.
It marks her best-ever WTA Finals participation. It all started with her winning her first-ever match, and now, the 2023 US Open champion will play in her first semifinals, earning herself 250 additional points compared to last year when she went winless.
As a result, she's set to finish the season as the world no. 3, ahead of either Elena Rybakina, or fellow American Jessica Pegula, who will be also her semifinal opponent in Cancun.
The two have met already three times on the WTA Tour, and Pegula won two of those matches, and both matches that were played on the hard courts, giving her a clear advantage over her doubles opponent.
On the other hand, Gauff will try to use familiarity from doubles to her advantage, and going far at these WTA Finals is important for her if she wants to have a shot at becoming the world no. 1 in 2024, something that she may get very close to achieving.
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