The United States is enjoying tennis thanks to its new star, Coco Gauff, who was crowned champion of the WTA Finals in Riyadh on Saturday after defeating Qinwen Zheng in the final, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2), in three hours and four minutes. In fact, to find the last triumph of an American player, one had to go back to Serena Williams in 2014.
At 20 years and 241 days old, Coco is the youngest women’s Masters champion since Maria Sharapova (17 years and 210 days) in 2004. She can boast a record that no one else has: she has won her first eight finals on hard courts.
Only three other compatriots. Chris Evert (1972-73, 75), Tracy Austin (1980) and Serena (2001), had been crowned as champions before the age of 21. She is only the sixth player to have a major, a WTA 1000 and the Finals before reaching that age. The Williams sisters, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Sharapova had achieved this feat.
Zheng put up a brave fight and did not let herself down despite the disappointment of losing the second set with a break advantage. Gauff tied the score, but her opponent seemed more solid, both in her tennis and physically.
The Chinese player went 2-0 up in the tiebreaker, but again lost that lead. Pere Riba’s pupil served for the title at 5-4, but Coco showed her winning character, which led her to win the US Open in 2023, forcing the tiebreaker. The first four final balls slipped away from her, but she took the fifth to make history. In the absence of tennis, there was emotion because it was the first time that a final was decided in a tiebreaker.
She finished the season in third place on the WTA podium and presents herself as the alternative to the recent tyranny of Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek. Precisely her only defeat in the tournament in Riyadh was against Barbora Krejcikova and that eliminated a Swiatek who was left without a semi-final.
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