Coco Gauff recorded a rare victory over Iga Swiatek to punch her ticket to the semifinals of the WTA Finals in Riyadh. Three seed Gauff beat the defending champion Swiatek 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of group stage action. This is just a second win for the American in 13 tour meetings against the Pole. Gauff entered the contest having lost 11 of her 12 previous meetings with Swiatek. Her sole victory came in Cincinnati in 2023.
Gauff, the 2023 US Champion, put an end to five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek’s six-match unbeaten run at the WTA Finals, an event the Polish star won a year ago. The win moved Gauff to 2-0 in the Orange Group, while Swiatek fell to 1-1. The result also means that Swiatek can’t move up from No. 2 in the rankings this week. Aryna Sabalenka will finish the year at the No. 1 for the first time.
Coco Gauff Survives Sloppy Match
Coco Gauff continued her strong start in the WTA Finals group stage with two wins. But, it wasn’t all smooth sailing as the serve problems hit Gauff once again. The 20-year-old served 10 double faults in the second round, but she proved stronger in the end, letting out a huge roar after breaking her serve in the final game. Gauff admitted that she had confidence and felt like she was playing great tennis. “It feels great,” she said in her on-court interview.
Gauff seems to find a way to keep all other aspects of her game together. Her win against Iga Swiatek was a triumph for her as the serve that let her down during the US Open early exit started to crumble once again. Gauff found a way to fight back, with Swiatek also throwing in too many errors. For Swiatek, this is the second match she played under the new coach Wim Fisette.
Gauff Hits New Milestone
At just 20 years of age, Coco Gauff has hit plenty of “youngest” player milestones in her career. The former World No. 2 has now reached back-to-back semifinals at the year-end championship. That makes her the youngest American woman to reach consecutive semifinals at the WTA Finals since Tracy Austin in 1978 and 1980. Coco Gauff will hope to emulate her compatriot Austin by going on to lift the title in 1980. She defeated Martina Navratilova in the final.
In her third WTA Finals appearance, Coco Gauff has now won her first two group stage matches for the first time. That makes her the first player in 17 years to achieve that feat before turning 21. Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic both achieved that at the 2007 Finals. Both players went on to make the last four, much like Gauff. Ivanovic fell in the last four and Sharapova was beaten in the final. Both women were defeated by Justine Henin.
Gauff Is Seeking a Victory
Coco Gauff improved greatly at this year’s Finals by going 2-0 in the group stage. In her first WTA Finals, she was 0-3. She is looking to win the tournament for the first time in her career, having been knocked out in the semifinals in 2023. She will face Barbora Krejcikova on Thursday looking up to wrap up first place in the group and a last four showdown with either Qinwen Zheng or Jasmine Paolini.
Barbora Krejcikova still has a chance to reach the last four after overcoming Jessica Pegula, who was eliminated with a match to play. Wimbledon champion Krejcikova beat Pegula 6-3, 6-3 to get on the board in the orange group. Krejcikova, who was the last player to qualify for the tournament, handed Pegula her second defeat in 70 minutes. Pegula exits the tournament with one round-robin game to play (against Iga Swiatek), while Krejcikova’s chances rest on her match against Coco Gauff.
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