WTA Finals 2024: Coco Gauff produces stunning comeback to beat Qinwen Zheng and win maiden title in Riyadh

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Coco Gauff roared back to beat Qinwen Zheng in an enthralling three-setter at the WTA World Tour Finals, earning a maiden title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The American came through 3-6 6-4 7-6(2) in just over three hours, winning her second title of the Asian hard-court swing, following her China Open crown in Beijing. She cruised through the deciding tie-break to seal her third title of 2024.

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Video credit: SNTV

Coco Gauff produced a sensational comeback to beat Qinwen Zheng in three sets and claim the WTA World Tour Finals title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The American world No. 3 came through 3-6 6-4 7-6(2) in three hours and five minutes, fending off her opponent serving for the championship to land her second title since the US Open, having claimed the China Open crown.

Zheng had blown the opportunity to follow up her Olympic gold at Paris 2024 when she served for the match at 5-4, as Gauff rallied superbly to force the Chinese player to serve to stay in the contest.

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She did just that, holding her nerve when it mattered, forcing a championship tie-break to decide the victor.

She cruised through to 6-0, teeing up six championship points, and overcame a slight blip to convert the third with a slice forehand volley winner.

It was far from plain sailing for the 2023 US Open champion, who dropped a tight first set despite threatening an early break in the fifth game, with Zheng saving three break points with superb winners and a fourth shortly after.

Gauff was forced to fend off an attack from the Olympic gold medallist in her following service game, but she surrendered her serve in the game after that, double faulting to gift the break, and netting a backhand to concede the opening set.

Zheng continued her momentum into the second, breaking the American immediately, but she was pegged back by the 20-year-old at 3-3, and the pair traded breaks, once more, firstly to tee up Gauff to serve for the set, and the second for her to pass up the opportunity.

She levelled the match, however, one game later, breaking Zheng for a final third time in the set to swing the pendulum back in her favour.

However, the tide turned once more as Zheng repeated her second-set feat to break Gauff in the opening game of the decider, converting her fourth break point, and she deflected a break point against her to supplement the advantage with a strong service hold.

She couldn’t produce the double-break, however, despite two chances to do so, and she would rue those missed opportunities, surrendering her break advantage in the fourth game as Gauff clawed her way back into the encounter, but the Australian Open finalist had other ideas, snatching back a break at 4-3.

The drama did not stop there as Gauff pulled another rabbit out of the hat, hauling herself back on level terms once more at 5-5 as Zheng sought to serve out the contest.

Instead, it was the American who forced her opponent to serve for a deciding breaker, and after a couple of hiccups - that resulted in missed match points for Gauff - the seven-pointer was on the cards.

Gauff quickly put those squandered chances behind her to race into a 6-0 lead, and after a couple of nervy errors, she converted her third match point of the tie-break and fifth of the match to claim a memorable first WTA Finals title.

“I’m tired first and foremost,” she told Sky afterwards.

“Happy the season is over. It was a great match. Qinwen played really great tennis. I was trying my best to hang in there and never gave up.

“No [I never believed that I wouldn’t win]. Sometimes you think that a little bit, but you push that thought away. I was telling myself, ‘Another point, another chance’. I’ve been in situations like this in the past and been able to turn it around, so I knew that I could do it again today.”