Coco Gauff Downs World Number One Aryna Sabalenka.
Locker Room
November 8, 2024
Coco Gauff is in the WTA Final – and faces Qinwen Zheng for the year-end crown on Saturday.
The gutsy American defended like a lioness and then watched Aryna Sabalenka fall apart on the other side of the net.
The world number one had claimed the trophy at three of her last four tournaments. Yet when faced with Gauff’s fierce, rapidly improving game, she committed 45 unforced errors.
Coco had to break to stay in the first set. But then she played the biggest points best when it really mattered.
She ran away with the early stages of the tie-break – and fended off a mini-comeback from the favourite..
The number three seed’s serve held up sufficiently in the second set to take a commanding lead. When Sabalenka broke back, Coco just held her nerve and broke again.
No wonder Gauff was so pleased with her 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory. At the age of 20, she is already hitting the heights and finally showing more consistency on serve.
Coco Gauff could achieve great things at Wimbledon 2025 on this kind of form. She may even peak on grass to win her first title at the All England Club.
For now, she remains relaxed and is looking forward to the final in Riyadh.
Coco said: ‘I’m happy with the way I played. She’s world number one for a reason and I just tried to stay in it.’
On forcing the first-set tie-break, she shrugged: ‘Breaking in tennis is nothing. I just needed to win a game to stay in the set.’
Gauff seems more thrilled to be taking on another youngster, Zheng in the final. ‘She’s playing great. But just playing confident tennis myself will give me the best shot at winning.
‘I’m not really nervous to be honest. Just to be here is amazing. And I saw some American flags in the crowd supporting me.
‘How I was able to stay in it against Aryna gave me the most satisfaction.. Yesterday I lost and I was able to brush that off and come out today and beat the world number one and the favourite for the tournament.
‘I was getting broken and breaking back. I knew anything could happen out there.’
But there were encouraging signs for Gauff going forward. Crucially, Sabalenka had to work hard for her breaks.
Gauff’s second serve didn’t produce easy pickings this time around. And she now leads Aryna 5-4 in their head-to-head.
Turning to the clash with Zheng, Coco observed: ‘She likes the court here. She is tough and a really good server. But I’m looking forward to it.’
The final features a 20-year-old against a 22-year-old. ‘I’m really curious to know when that last happened,’ Coco grinned.
Coco Gauff appearing in the Wimbledon 2025 final. That’s what we all want to see.
But this final in Riyadh will be a fun way for the top women to say farewell to 2024. And the English summer will be upon us before we know it.
Will you be supporting Coco Gauff at Wimbledon 2025 as she tries to make history at the greatest Grand Slam of them all?
We can organise your tickets for you. Then you can sit back and look forward to the atmosphere on Centre Court!