5 milestones Coco Gauff achieved by winning the WTA Finals 2024
Coco Gauff staged an impressive comeback to beat Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) to win the WTA Finals 2024. She trailed by a set and a break before turning things around to capture the second set to level the match. She was down a break twice in the third set as well but made one final push to get over the finish line.
With the win, Gauff captured her third title of the season, and her first at the WTA Finals. After going through a slump in the summer during which she failed to defend her titles in Cincinnati and at the US Open, she has bounced back in style. After her loss at the season's final Major, she won the China Open and made the semifinals of the Wuhan Open.
Gauff will now aim to use this victory as a springboard to greater success in the coming season. However, for now, she will bask in the glory of her triumph. On that note, here are five milestones that the young American achieved with her win at the WTA Finals:
#1 - Coco Gauff became the first player since Serena Williams to win eight consecutive finals on hardcourts
Gauff's triumph at the WTA Finals 2024 marked her eighth consecutive victory in a hardcourt final. She is the first to do so since her compatriot and 23-time Major champion Serena Williams, who won 12 on the trot between the US Open 2013 and Cincinnati Open 2015.
Gauff also became the youngest player to do so since Martina Hingis achieved the same feat back in 1998. The latter emerged victorious in nine straight finals on hardcourts between the 1997 Sydney Tennis Classic and the 1998 Indian Wells Open.
#2 - Coco Gauff is the sixth player to win a Grand Slam, a WTA 1000, and the WTA Finals before the age of 21
Gauff was labeled as a prodigy since she burst onto the scene in 2019 as a 15-year-old. While many of her peers failed to replicate the same level of success as an adult, the young American has improved with every passing year. She claimed her maiden Major title at last year's US Open, and her first WTA 1000 title at last year's Cincinnati Open.
Gauff has now added a WTA Finals title to her ever-growing resume. Even more impressive is the fact that she is only 20 years old. She has now joined an elite list of players who have won titles across the three biggest levels of the sport before they turned 21 years old. Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, the Williams sisters, and Maria Sharapova are the only other players to have done so.
#3 - Coco Gauff now has a 9-1 career record in finals, and only two players have done better than her
Gauff's victory at the WTA Finals 2024 improved her career record in finals to 9-1. Only two players have done better across their first 10 finals, Nancy Richey and Anna Smashnova, who had a perfect 10-0 record.
Gauff also tied her rival Iga Swiatek, who went 9-1 across her first 10 finals on the Tour. The American's only loss in a final also came to the Pole, who beat her in the final of the French Open 2022.
#4 - Coco Gauff is the youngest player to win the WTA Finals since Maria Sharapova, and the youngest American since Serena Williams
Gauff became the youngest player to win the WTA Finals since Sharapova in 2004, who captured the title at the age of 17. She also became the youngest American to win the title since Serena Williams in 2001, who was also 20 years old when she lifted the trophy at the year-end championships.
While Williams didn't win a Major title in 2001, she did cap off the year with the WTA Finals. She won three Grand Slam titles the following season. Gauff didn't add a Major title to her trophy cabinet this year but could take some inspiration from her compatriot and follow in her footsteps next year.
#5 - Coco Gauff became the youngest player to beat the top two ranked players in the same event since Maria Sharapova in 2006
Gauff beat World No. 2 Swiatek in straight sets during the group stage and then knocked out the top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. She became the youngest player since Sharapova to defeat the tour's top two ranked players in the same tournament since the Russian did it at the US Open in 2006, at the age of 19.
Sharapova beat World No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals and got the better of World No. 1 Justine Henin to win the US Open back then. Gauff has put herself in the same league as some of the sport's best players, and given her young age, this is only the beginning for her.