Coco Gauff shows fighting spirit to seal WTA Finals title after comeback win over Qinwen Zheng in Saudi Arabia

American takes honours in Riyadh final after 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 victory at King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh

Coco Gauff celebrates after beating Qinwen Zheng to win the WTA Finals at King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh, on November 9, 2024. Reuters

United States' Coco Gauff after beating Zheng Qinwen of China 3-6, 6-4, 7-6. AFP

Coco Gauff holds the Billie Jean King Trophy after her three-set victory over Qinwen Zheng. Getty Images

Qinwen Zheng after losing to Coco Gauff. Reuters

Coco Gauff after winning match point to claim her first WTA Finals crown at the age of 20 and become the youngest player to win the title since Maria Sharapova in 2004. Reuters

Coco Gauff celebrates after beating Qinwen Zheng after fighting back from 2-0 and 5-3 down in the deciding set. Reuters

Qinwen Zheng had won a tour-leading 31 matches since Wimbledon going into the final. Getty Images

Coco Gauff became the youngest WTA Finals finalist, at the age of 20, since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Getty Images

Seventh seed Qinwen Zheng defeated Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini in the group stage, also losing to Aryna Sabalenka, before battling past Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 7-5 in the semi-finals. Reuters

Coco Gauff beat the No 1 and No 2 in the world rankings - Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek - on her way to the title in Riyadh. AP

Zheng Qinwen had won six career titles heading into the match, including claiming Olympic gold at the Paris Games this summer. AFP

Coco Gauff celebrates after winning a point against Zheng Qinwen. AFP

Third seed Coco Gauff had won nine WTA Tour titles, and three this season, going into the match. Reuters

Coco Gauff and Qinwen Zheng before the final in Riyadh. The pair had only faced each other once before, when Gauff won 7-6, 6-1 in the Italian Open quarter-finals in Rome earlier this year. AP

Coco Gauff became the youngest player to win the WTA Finals title in 20 years with a gruelling 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 victory over Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in Riyadh on Saturday.

The 20-year-old Gauff rallied back from 3-6, 1-3 down, and erased a one-break deficit twice in the decider, to overcome the seventh-seeded Zheng in three hours and four minutes – the second-longest WTA final in 2024.

“This means a lot to me,” Gauff said during her press conference.

“This is the first professional women’s tennis event here in Saudi Arabia and I’ll forever be etched in history in that standard. It’s the second biggest title in our sport, so it means a lot. And just to be etched in history forever, it’s pretty cool and hopefully there’s more events here.”

By clinching the trophy, Gauff pocketed a record $4,805,000 – which is the largest ever payout at a professional, sanctioned tour event.

Gauff had knocked out the world's top two players, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, en route to the final and picked up her fourth top-eight win of the week with an impressive physical performance against Zheng.

The American was unaware she had earned a record prize cheque and laughed when she was told how much she made by a reporter.

“I don’t know what I’ll do with it, that’s a lot of money. What you said? 4.8? I hope I’m one of the highest paid female tennis players this year, or athletes, so that would be exciting,” she said.

Zheng is just the second Asian woman, behind Li Na in 2013, to reach the singles championship match at a WTA Finals.

The Chinese star wraps up her breakthrough 2024 campaign having won 31 of her last 37 matches, and will rise to a career-high No 5 in the world on Monday.

“The match today came down to just a couple of important points. It was very close. And at the end, when you play these type of matches, it’s not about tennis, it’s about choices on court,” said Zheng.

“It hurts to lose this match of course but I think it’s better I forget it and move on for my next steps.”

Contesting the youngest final at the WTA Finals since Maria Sharapova's win over Serena Williams in 2004, Gauff and Zheng, 22, brought their A-game from the start, painting the lines with precise and powerful groundstrokes off of both wings.

It was Zheng who faced more pressure on serve in the opening games, saving a break point in game one, and three more in game five, to keep things on level terms with her American opponent.

The rallies got longer and more physically taxing and it was Gauff who cracked first, double-faulting to hand Zheng a 5-3 lead.

Zheng had to save a break point while serving for the set, which she closed on a netted backhand from Gauff at the 55-minute mark.

The seventh seed kept up her momentum and clinched a fifth game in a row to go up 2-0 early in the second set.

Gauff stopped the bleeding though and fought her way back to level for 3-3, finally claiming her first break of serve on her sixth opportunity of the match. Zheng appeared to have lost a bit of her speed and Gauff took full advantage of the situation.

The American made it four games in a row to put herself in the position to serve for the second set but couldn't close, as Zheng saved a pair of set points to peg her opponent back and break. Gauff retaliated the next game to scoop the second set and force a decider.

Gauff dropped serve at the start of the final set but pulled off an incredible stretch volley to strike back and even the score 2-2.

Zheng mustered all the power she could, unleashing huge serves and groundstrokes to create another gap and surged ahead 5-3.

Gauff would not relent and once again wiped her deficit. Zheng saved two championship points on her own serve in game 12 and carried the match into a deciding tiebreak.

The American was dialled in for the breaker, racing to a 6-0 advantage and Zheng couldn't catch up as the world No 3 completed a remarkable comeback victory on her fifth opportunity.

Asked if the No 1 ranking was on her mind for next year, Gauff said: “Yes and no. I’ve never been a ranking-focused person, I just want Slams. But obviously yeah, I know I have that possibility. But honestly it’s not on my mind, I just want to rack up the Slam trophies.”