The American Coco Gauff won the final of the WTA Finals in Riyadh against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen on Saturday (November 9th, 2024).
The 20-year-old beat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen from China 3:6, 6:4, 7:6 (7:2) in a dramatic, three-hour final in Riyadh. She then told Sky: “It was always one of my goals to win these WTA finals. I’m happy that I can tick that off now.”
This makes Gauff the youngest winner of the women’s season finale in 20 years. Maria Sharapova triumphed in 2004 at the age of 17.
Zheng loses in the final of the nine generations
It was a final of the next generation: Zheng (22) and Gauff (20) were the two youngest participants in the finals, and there had not been such a young pairing in the final since 2004. At that time, Sharapova was playing against 23-year-old Serena Williams.
Gauff is now the unofficial world champion and secured a major title for the second year in a row. She won the US Open in 2023, and Gauff was in strong form this year too.
She reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and the French Open and won a total of two tournaments on the WTA tour, including the 1000 tournament in Beijing last month. Zheng, however, missed the crowning glory of the year after winning Olympic gold in Paris in the summer.
$4.8 million in prize money for Gauff
Participation was also financially worthwhile for Gauff. 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, was more prize money than ever before for a single tournament victory by a female tennis player.
Gauff missed five break points in the first set
In the final, the players exchanged blows on equal terms, with both playing outstanding tennis at times, but also allowing each other weaknesses from time to time. The first set was hard fought. Gauff left five break points unused. Zheng, on the other hand, took advantage of one of her few chances, took the serve from Gauff to make it 5:3 and then secured the set.
Gauff uses the third match point
In the second round, the Chinese quickly took a 3-1 lead, but Gauff fought back and equalized the set after more than 100 minutes. The decisive sentence was the longest of the evening and was characterized by numerous changes in momentum. After 3:04 hours, Gauff converted her third match point in the tiebreak.
The end-of-year event took place in Saudi Arabia for the first time, which sparked criticism. The host country has been accused for years of wanting to use “sportswashing” to cover up mistakes such as human rights violations.
