RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- World No.3 Coco Gauff earned her second career win over No.2 Iga Swiatek to ensure her advancement to the semifinals at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF. In their 13th career meeting, Gauff defeated the defending champion 6-3, 6-4 to improve to 2-0 in round-robin play and take control of the Orange Group.

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The victory is Gauff's first over Swiatek since the 2023 Cincinnati Open and snapped the Pole's six-match win streak at the WTA Finals. A semifinalist in Cancun last year, the 20-year-old is now the youngest player to reach back-to-back semifinals at the WTA Finals since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009-10. She is the youngest American to do so since Tracy Austin in 1979-80.

"Obviously playing Iga is tough for me, but I'm really happy how I managed to play throughout the match," Gauff said. "And, yeah, it was a fun crowd environment. It was pretty exciting. So I'm glad to get through today".

Earlier in the day, Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova eased past No.6 Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-3 to earn her first career WTA Finals win in singles. As a result, Gauff has secured her advancement but her position will be determined on the last day of group play on Thursday when she faces Krejcikova. 

Swiatek fell to 1-1 in the group and will face Pegula in a rematch of the US Open quarterfinal, which the American won 6-2, 6-4. Swiatek's loss to Gauff has ensured Aryna Sabalenka will finish the season as the year-end World No.1 for the first time. 

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Heading into Tuesday night's match, Swiatek held a dominant 11-1 record against Gauff, including two wins this season in the semifinals of Rome and Roland Garros. But after nearly two months off after the US Open, Swiatek needed three tough sets to get past Barbora Krejcikova in her Riyadh Opener. Gauff, a champion at the China Open last month, eased past Jessica Pegula in straight sets.

Gauff eased through the opening set without facing a single break point. Growing in confidence with each easy hold, Gauff kept the pressure on Swiatek, earning break points in four of Swiatek's five service games in the first set and breaking twice. 

Swiatek rebounded in the early stages of the second set but continued to struggle on serve. She broke Gauff twice to take a break advantage, only to relinquish the lead immediately in her next service game. Serving to stay in the match at 5-4, Swiatek pushed two forehands long to relinquish her fifth and final break of the night. The win is Gauff's 52nd of the year, the highest single-season tally of her career.

"Well, for sure I wasn't solid enough, and Coco used her opportunities much better than I did," Swiatek said. "You
know, had some break points that I didn't win. And for sure, I made more unforced errors. And when you play Coco, you know you need to be solid. Even though our head to head was more positive for me, it's still never easy to win against her.

"So today, for sure, she was a better player and I'm gonna try to adjust a bit better in my next match, and try to do some stuff tomorrow, practice more to play better."

Gauff finished the night with 10 winners to 33 unforced errors, 11 of which were double faults. Swiatek outpaced Gauff with 15 winners, but struck 47 unforced errors.

"I think I didn't let the doubles get to me, even though it was there," Gauff said. "In Wuhan, I felt like I was just feeling bad and making myself feel worse, and I was trying not to allow myself to do that here.

"I'm in the process of changing things, so it's up and down, and I feel like it's in the right direction, like you said, the first set, no break point, which, yeah, I don't even know if that's ever happened against her particularly. So, yeah, I think it's in the right direction. And I was still in the match, even if you know, I wasn't serving well, which gives me confidence for the next one."