Gauff completes dream season with title win at Finals

Coco Gauff worked for three hours to defeat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) to win the ATP Finals on Sunday, claiming her 12th victory from her last 14 matches.

Gauff let out a scream of joy and fell to the court as she finished off victory. 

“That was a great match, I was just trying my best to hang in there and I never gave up,” Gauff told Sky Sports. 

“Sometimes you can think [you’re not going to win] but I just pushed that thought away. I was telling myself, ‘another point, another chance’.

“I’ve been in situations like this in the past where I’ve been able to turn it around and I just hoped I could do it again today.”

The 20-year-old American will finish third in the world for a second consecutive season after her victory in Saudi, worth USD 4.8 million as the kingdom splashes the cash in hopes of elbowing into the tennis big-time.

Gauff becomes the fourth from her nation to win Finals before turning 21 years old, along with Chris Evert (1972, 1973 and 1975), Tracy Austin (1980) and Serena Williams (2001).

The final was the longest played at the season wrapup event since that statistic began in 2008 and handed Gauff a ninth career title from 10 played.

Zheng now stands 31-6 during the second half of the season, earning titles at the Paris Games and in Tokyo last month.

Gauff made multiple recoveries, recovering breaks in the second and third sets after dropping the opener.

Zheng served for victory leading 5-4, only to lose serve with Gauff taking a 6-5 lead. A game later, the seventh-ranked Chinese saved two Gauff match points before finally falling in the third-set  tiebreaker.