American tennis star Coco Gauff secured her first WTA Finals title by defeating Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in a thrilling final on Saturday. Gauff, 20, overcame a challenging match, rallying from 2-0 and 5-3 deficits in the final set. Facing two points from defeat, she pushed the set to a tiebreaker, winning the first six points.
Despite a comeback attempt from Zheng, Gauff clinched the victory on her third match point with a forehand winner, finishing the match 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2), as reported by Daily Mail.
She became the youngest player in two decades to win the WTA Finals, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Maria Sharapova in 2004 was the last to do so in 2004.
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Gauff triumphed over the world’s top two players, Aryna and Iga, on her run to the final at the season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh.
Her opponent, Zheng, was aiming to cap off a season, having reached her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open and secured China’s first Olympic tennis singles gold medal.
In the WTA doubles final, Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand defeated Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the United States, 7-5, 6-3.
Gauff’s victory in the Saudi Arabian capital followed her recent meeting with Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, where she discussed the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia.
“We spoke with a lot of women here in Saudi. One of them was Princess Reema. Multiple calls with her, how the best approach would be to enter into this different place that women have never kind of, women from U.S., have never kind of been in,” Gauff told reporters on Friday.
“I think for me it was important, and it was one of the questions I brought up because about LGBTQ issues, women’s rights issues, how we can help with that.”
Gauff revealed to reporters that her father was worried about her visiting Saudi Arabia due to its discrimination against women.
“Obviously I’m a woman. I was very concerned. My dad was very concerned with me coming here,” Gauff said.
The 20-year-old tennis star admitted she had reservations about playing in the event because of the country’s human rights record.
“I would be lying to you if I said I had no reservations,” Gauff said. “Obviously, you know who I am and the things I speak about. I was pretty much on every player call I could make with WTA.
“One of the things I said, if we come here, we can’t just come here and play our tournament and leave. Like, we have to have a real program or real plan in place.”
