Gauff Upended Sabalenka, Will Face Zheng For WTA Finals Title

Coco Gauff is enjoying one of her best weeks of her career. Today in Riyadh at the WTA Finals she upset the world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-3.

Earlier in the week, Gauff topped Iga Swiatek and with the win today, she becomes just the third player since 2010 to beat both the #1 and #2 players at the WTA Finals.

“Obviously she’s a great player, but I just felt like if I can just play well and serve well, I had a good chance,” said Gauff. “I stepped on the court and realized I was feeling my serve, I just kind of had that belief that I can win.”

Sabalenka missed a chance serving for the first set.

“I have to say she just got lucky in those couple of points at the end of the first set,” Sabalenka said. “I kind of got distracted and let the game go. And then it was too late to come back in the tiebreak, and I lost the first set.

“I was rushing and and not really adjusting to the ball quite well that I did in the first two matches. So I have to say that this match is just full of missed opportunities from my side.”

Gauff moves into the final where she’ll take on Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen who ousted Wimbledon winner Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 7-5.

“I feel everything is real,” Zheng told the wTA. “I know after Wimbledon I had a big struggle. I did not perform well at Roland Garros. I did not perform well at Wimbledon. I think everything’s for a reason.

“After that, even though I was the Olympic champion, I tried to keep my mentality stable, don’t get relaxed. Seems like it’s working. I still keep the motivations pretty high.”

The 22-year-old Zheng has only played Gauff once before in a loss on the clay at Rome earlier this year. Zheng’s been much better since, and Gauff has been on fire since changing coaches over a month ago.

A purse of nearly $5 million also goes to the winner.

SATURDAY WTA FINALS RIYAHD SCHEDULE
4:00pm Doubles Final
[2] Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) / Erin Routliffe (NZL) vs [8] Katerina Siniakova (CZE) / Taylor Townsend (USA)

7:00pm Singles Final
[3] Coco Gauff (USA) vs [7] Zheng Qinwen (CHN)

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