Coco Gauff had already made noise just by reaching the final of the WTA Finals, including becoming the youngest woman since 2006 to defeat No. 1 and No. 2 at the same tournament with her wins over Iga Swiatek in the round robin and Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.
But by going one step further and winning the title on Saturday, grinding out a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory over No. 7-ranked Zheng Qinwen in the final, the 20-year-old American achieved a lot more.
First of all, she’s the youngest player to win the WTA Finals in 20 years, since Maria Sharapova won the year-end championships as a 17-year-old in 2004. Gauff was eight months old at the time.
Second of all, she’s now won her last seven finals in a row. She’s 9-1 overall in finals now, her only career loss coming to Iga Swiatek in the 2022 Roland Garros final. She’s won seven straight since.
And perhaps most impressively, she’s now already won a WTA title at every different level in her career. Before this week she already had four WTA 250s, one WTA 500, two WTA 1000s and one Grand Slam title, and now she has her first WTA Finals title.
At just 20 years old.
