BLOCKBUSTER BATTLE: Gauff, Zheng forge WTA Finals title showdown

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — World No. 3 Coco Gauff and No. 7 Zheng Qinwen will square off in the championship match of the WTA Finals in Riyadh after claiming impressive victories in the semis on Friday.

The 20-year-old Gauff knocked out world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(7/4), 6-3 to become the youngest player to reach the final at the season-ending championships since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.

Zheng, a gold medalist in the singles event of the Olympic Games this year, reached the final on her debut appearance in the season-ending showpiece with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.

Gauff improved to 5-4 head-to-head against Sabalenka, and was the more stable player in their semi-final, as she saved nine of 13 break points throughout the match.

“I’m happy with the way I played. I know against Aryna, she’s always going to be a tough match. She’s world No. 1 for a reason,” the 2023 US Open champion said.

Gauff beat Zheng in their sole previous meeting, on clay in Rome earlier this season, and the American used to be coached by Pere Riba, who currently works with the Chinese player.

“She’s playing great tennis,” Gauff said of Zheng.

“Just playing confident tennis will help me and give me the best shot at winning. I’m not really nervous. Year-end to me has always been a bonus and being here is already a privilege.”

With a combined age of 42 years and 271 days, the match-up between Zheng and Gauff on Saturday will feature the youngest combined age for the two finalists at the event since Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams in 2004.

In front of a buoyant crowd at King Saud University Indoor Arena, Sabalenka was under pressure in her first service game, needing eight-and-a-half minutes to hold for 1-all, after saving two break points.

Four forehand errors from Gauff cost her the next game as Sabalenka broke for a 2-1 advantage but the Belarusian’s lead was short-lived, as she immediately got broken at love.

The pair were neck and neck until Sabalenka broke through in game 11, drawing the error from Gauff to give herself a chance to serve for the opening set.

A clever short ball from Gauff resulted in a Sabalenka mistake and the set fittingly went to a tiebreak.

The American raced to a 6-1 lead in the breaker and finally clinched the 59-minute set on her fourth opportunity.

The second set was a different story, with Gauff taking the helm and breaking twice to build a 4-1 gap.

In a marathon sixth game, Sabalenka needed eight break points to get one of the breaks back but her effort was nullified by Gauff, who took four points in a row on her opponent’s serve to surge ahead 5-2.

The Floridian couldn’t serve out the win but kept up the pressure on Sabalenka’s serve to reach the final after one hour and 49 minutes of sheer battle.

Earlier in the day, 22-year-old Zheng needed one hour and 40 minutes to overcome Krejcikova in their semifinal encounter, firing nine aces along the way.

Zheng led 6-3, 3-0 before the eighth-seeded Krejcikova launched a comeback attempt but the Chinese star regained control of the match to make it two wins from two clashes with the Czech.

“It feels so special because this is my first WTA Finals and right now I’m in the final, which is unbelievable. She’s a really good player, today we gave a good match,” said Zheng, who is bidding to become the first player to win the WTA Finals on her maiden appearance since Ashleigh Barty in 2019.

“It was tricky because at 3-0 I think I dropped my performance, suddenly my performance went down and she played more free and I was suddenly 3-4 down. I gave so much control to myself to not panic too much. It shows I was mentally strong in that moment.”

Since the event’s inauguration in 1972, Zheng is only the second Asian player to reach the decider at the WTA Finals after Li Na pulled off that feat in 2013.