PIF WTA Finals: Coco Gauff Emerges Year-End Champion
In a stunning show, World No. 3 Coco Gauff bagged her maiden Year-End Championship title with her comeback win over Olympic Champion Qinwen Zheng, who also gave her all in the high-quality WTA Finals that concluded in Riyadh.
The American defeated the Chinese world No. 7 Qinwen Zheng 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) after battling hard for three hours and four minutes. This final, the longest in tournament history, saw Gauff clinch her ninth career WTA Tour singles title.
The 20-year-old American had to dig deep, overcoming multiple deficits throughout the match. She was a break down in the second set and twice in the third set, where Zheng served for the championship at 5-4. With this win, she secured the season-ending World No. 3 ranking for the second year in a row and earned a record-breaking $4,805,000 in prize money, the largest payout at a WTA Tour event.
Zheng’s journey to the final was equally remarkable. Since the event’s inception in 1972, she became only the second Asian player to reach the singles final, following Li Na’s historic run in 2013. Zheng’s powerful performance in Riyadh capped an incredible second half of the season, highlighted by her Olympic gold medal and a tour-leading 31-6 win-loss record since Wimbledon.
The final also showcased the youngest pairing of WTA Finals singles finalists since 2004. Gauff’s victory made her the youngest champion since Maria Sharapova’s win in 2004 at 17.
In doubles, the No. 2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe captured the championship, defeating Wimbledon winners Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 6-3 in the final. The win marked Dabrowski and Routliffe’s fourth team title and their second this season. Their journey to the title was nothing short of extraordinary.
The pair avenged several tough losses from earlier in the year, including defeats at Wimbledon and the US Open. They also saved match points in the group stage against Olympic champions Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini.
The PIF WTA Finals also highlighted the strength of Asian players. Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, world No. 5, defeated world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a thrilling three-set match during the round-robin stage. Rybakina became the first Asian player to beat the top-ranked player at the WTA Finals, though she fell short of reaching the semi-finals.
In doubles, Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei and her partner Elise Mertens, the reigning Australian Open champions, had a tough campaign, failing to qualify for the semi-finals with a 1-2 record in the round robin. Meanwhile, Hao-Ching Chan of Chinese Taipei and Veronika Kudermetova impressed by reaching the semi-finals but were edged out by the eventual champions Dabrowski and Routliffe in a hard-fought semi-final.
The 2024 PIF WTA Finals delivered thrilling matches, historic moments, and standout performances. Coco Gauff’s extraordinary comeback win and Dabrowski and Routliffe’s doubles triumph capped a week of exceptional tennis in Riyadh.
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