Coco Gauff has won the WTA Finals for the first time by rallying to beat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
The 20-year-old American came from 2-0 and 5-3 down in the final set and was two points from defeat at one stage.
Yet she took the set to a tiebreaker and won the first six points. Zheng threatened a comeback but Gauff took the victory off her third match point with a forehand winner as she came into the net.
It means she has become the youngest player to win the WTA Finals since Maria Sharapova in 2004 and the first American champion since Serena Williams 10 years ago.
Gauff beat the world’s top two players, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, on her run to the final at the season-ending event in Riyadh.
“It was a really great match. Qinwen played some unbelievable tennis,” third seed Gauff said.
“I was just trying my best to hang in there and I never gave up.
“I was just telling myself, ‘it’s another point, another chance’. I’ve been in situations like this in the past and have been able to turn it around … and was able to do it again today.”
Zheng, seeded seventh and making her WTA Finals debut, was looking to round off a fine campaign in which she reached a grand slam final for the first time at the Australian Open and delivered China’s first Olympic tennis singles gold medal.
https://thewest.com.au/sport/tennis/coco-gauff-downs-zheng-to-claim-first-wta-finals-crown-c-16699508
