For the first time, the season finale in women’s tennis was played in Riyadh. In a hard-fought final, Coco Gauff defeated Zheng Qinwen and can look forward to setting a record in women’s tennis. The men start on Sunday.
World number three Coco Gauff won the WTA Finals for the first time and secured record prize money in women’s tennis. The American (20) won an exciting and hard-fought final in Riyadh after several deficits against the Chinese Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen (22) 3:6, 6:4, 7:6 (7:2).
Together with the prize money from the group games, she collected around 4.8 million US dollars, which, according to the women’s organization WTA, is more prize money than ever before for a female tennis player. The final was marked by several twists and turns. In the meantime, things were already pointing to a victory for the Chinese.
Gauff then clearly won the decisive tiebreak in the third set after missing two match points at 6:5. In the semi-finals, Gauff defeated the world number one Aryna Sabalenka and thus ended the tournament of the eight best tennis players of the season for the Belarusian.
The awarding of the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia until 2026 is also viewed critically. The kingdom is also accused of using sport to distract attention from its human rights violations and to improve its image.
Zheng Qinwen attracted attention in German sports in the summer because she defeated Angelique Kerber in a dramatic marathon match in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games in France. For the former world number one from Kiel, the defeat meant the end of her career.
Zverev was only in action on Monday
The men’s counterpart as the year-end tournament begins on Sunday in Turin. Alexander Zverev from Hamburg is one of the title candidates at the ATP Finals, but he still has a break on the opening day.
The Italian world number one Jannik Sinner will face the Australian outsider Alex de Minaur in front of his home crowd in his first group game in the evening (8.30 p.m./Sky). Sinner is the 2024 Australian Open and US Open champion and goes into the tournament as the top favorite.
Last year, Sinner reached the final of the eight most successful players of the year, but lost to the Serbian top star Novak Djokovic. Djokovic canceled his participation this time due to an unspecified injury.
Daniil Medvedev from Russia will meet the American Taylor Fritz on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m.). Germany’s number one Zverev competes in the other group. The Hamburger starts against his Russian preliminary round opponent Andrej Rublev on Monday evening (8.30 p.m./Sky).
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