Gauff overcomes Zheng in three-hour thriller to win WTA Finals title

It went down to the wire, but Coco Gauff pulled off an incredible comeback at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF on Saturday, earning the American the first year-ending championship title of her career.

WTA Finals Riyadh: Scores | Standings

The No.3 seed Gauff squeaked past No.7 Zheng Qinwen of China 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) in a 3-hour and 4-minute final to clinch the Billie Jean King Trophy and her ninth career Hologic WTA Tour singles title. This is the longest final at the WTA Finals since time stats started being tracked in 2008.

"Just staying resilient, fighting for every point," Gauff said in her post-match press conference. "I know I was like a couple points away from losing, but, you know, I just tried to stay in the moment, honestly, and I'm really proud of myself."

In her third consecutive WTA Finals appearance, Gauff needed to overcome multiple deficits to prevail over Zheng. Gauff had to come back from a break down in the second set, and she was twice down a break in the third set, where Zheng served for the match at 5-4. 

Reminiscent of her run to the 2023 US Open title (where she fought back from a set down in three matches), Gauff used her grit to battle back on each of those occasions. 

"At the end of the match, when I, like, fell on the floor, I didn't think I was going to do that," Gauff said. "I kind of, like, made a promise to
myself that I will only save that for Grand Slams. But honestly, to the way the match went, I was like, 'I'm just tired. I just want to lay
on the ground.'"

Gauff will be rewarded with $4,805,000 for her week in Riyadh –- the largest payout at a Hologic WTA Tour event. The American has also clinched the season-ending World No.3 ranking for the second straight year.

Strong season endings: Gauff capped off a late-season surge with victory on Saturday. After a Round of 16 loss in her US Open title defense, Gauff greatly rebounded, winning 12 of her last 14 matches this year.

Zheng also ended the season in hot form. Since Wimbledon, this year's Olympic gold medalist Zheng has posted a 31-6 win-loss record, leading the tour in match-wins during that timeframe.

But it was Gauff who came into the championship match with a nearly flawless record in finals, and the American continues to excel when she reaches that stage -- especially on hard court.

By winning the Beijing title on hard court last month, Gauff became the first woman in the Open Era to win her first seven tour-level hard-court finals. Gauff has now extended her hard-court final record to 8-0, and she improves to 9-1 in tour-level finals overall.

Fast facts: With the 20-year-old Gauff and 22-year-old Zheng facing off in the championship match, Riyadh boasted the youngest combined age of the singles finalists at the WTA Finals since Maria Sharapova defeated Serena Williams in the 2004 final. Gauff is now the youngest WTA Finals titlist since 17-year-old Sharapova took the title 20 years ago.

Since the WTA Finals began in 1972, Gauff is the fourth American to win the WTA Finals before turning 21 years old, joining Chris Evert (1972, 1973 and 1975), Tracy Austin (1980) and Serena Williams (2001).

Also this week, Gauff becomes just the second American since 1990 to claim four Top 10 wins at a single event before turning 21. Lindsay Davenport first achieved that feat en route to the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics.

Key moments: Zheng took command in the first set by using heavy and deep shots to break Gauff at love for 5-3. Zheng survived one break point while serving out the one-set lead -- Gauff went 0-for-5 on break points in the opener.

In the second set, though, Gauff found the aggressive return game which has led her to become this year’s leader in percentage of return games and return points won. From 3-1 down, Gauff broke Zheng three times in succession to capture the second set and level the match.

In the unpredictable third set, Gauff again came back from an early break down, but Zheng reclaimed the lead and served for the match at 5-4. However, Gauff used deep hitting to draw errors from Zheng, and the American broke for 5-5 without ever facing match point.

Gauff garnered two match points on Zheng’s serve at 6-5, but the Chinese player held firm and lined up the third-set tiebreak. Gauff refused to yield and she stormed to a 6-0 lead in the breaker, eventually converting her fifth match point to seal victory in Saudi Arabia.

"I knew that it was going to be a tough match, yes," Gauff said. "This is the second time we played, it was tough, and at the start of the match, she was playing a great level."