By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday November 8, 2024
Coco Gauff took the upper hand in her rivalry with Aryna Sabalenka, handing the World No.1 a straight-sets defeat that sends her to the title match at the WTA Finals.
Photo Source: TTC
Coco Gauff handled the stiffest tennis in women’s tennis on Friday in Riyadh, taking down World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(4), 6-3 to become the youngest player to reach the title match at the WTA Finals since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.
20-year-old Gauff also became the youngest player to defeat a reigning World No.1 at the WTA Finals since Maria Sharapova defeated then No.1 Lindsay Davenport in 2004. She improves to 5-4 lifetime against Sabalenka.
Gauff, who scored her third career victory over a No.1-ranked player, will bid for her ninth career title on Saturday.
“I’m happy with the way I played,” Gauff said on court after the win. “Playing against Aryna she’s always going to be a tough match. I just tried to stay in it, she’s World No.1 for a reason.”
Both players hit 14 winners in the one hour and 49-minute contest, but it was Gauff who was the steadier of the two. The American committed only 27 unforced errors compared to 47 for Sabalenka.
Gauff and Sabalenka exchanged breaks twice in the opening set, with Sabalenka breaking as Gauff served for the opener, but it was the American who reeled off six of the next seven points to lead 6-1 in the ensuing breaker. She needed three bites of the apple but eventually closed out the set on her fourth set point.
Gauff plowed ahead in the second set, taking a double-break 4-1 lead, and emerged victorious after weathering a stretch that featured five consecutive breaks down the stretch.
She converted her first match point when Sabalenka’s backhand dipped into the net, closing out her 53rd win of 2024.
Gauff will look to remain perfect against China’s Zheng Qinwen in the final, but she’ll have her hands full with the surging Chinese star.
Zheng has now won 31 of her last 36 matches after her three-set takedown of Barbora Krejcikova in Friday’s first semifinal. This year’s Olympic gold medalist in Paris is the first Chinese women to play the final at the WTA’s season-ending championships since Li Na in 2013, and she’ll bid to become China’s first ever champion at the WTA Finals.
Gauff defeated Zheng 7-6(4), 6-1 in their only previous meeting, in the quarterfinals on the Roman clay this spring.
The 22-year-old WTA Finals debutante is the youngest player to reach the finals at the WTA Finals since Petra Kvitova in 2011.
“She’s playing great tennis,” Gauff said of Zheng. “Just playing confident tennis will help give me the best shot at winning. I’m not really nervous, to be honest. Year-end to me, I always consider it as a plus, and even being here is a reward for the season that I had.”
Saturday’s final will be the youngest combined age for the two finalists at the WTA Finals since Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams in 2004, per Opta Sports.