Coco Gauff completes dream run to become youngest to win WTA Finals in 20 years.

American tennis sensation Coco Gauff ended her season in style Saturday, rallying to defeat China’s Zheng Qinwen 3-6 6-4 7-6 (2) to win the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The 20-year-old capped a run that saw her become the youngest player since Maria Sharapova in 2004 to win the prestigious tournament reserved for the best players in the world.

Gauff added more footnotes to the record books, becoming the youngest player to beat the reigning world No. 1 and No. 2 at the WTA Finals since Kim Clijsters in 2002, per Opta.

In Saturday’s final, Gauff produced more aces (five) than double-faults (four) and turned in a higher first-serve percentage (64 to 62) and a higher winning percentage on first-serve points (70 to 62) than Zheng, one of the tour’s top servers.

There was not a thing that was easy about this triumph! Gauff’s run included those victories over Sabalenka (in the semifinals) and Swiatek (in round-robin play), making the American the youngest player to win against the top two women at one tournament since Maria Sharapova at the 2006 U.S. Open.

By the way, the 20-year-old American earned $4.85 million in prize money for the title. It is the biggest payout ever for a women’s tennis event, topping the $4.42 million Ashleigh Barty earned during the 2019 WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China. Zheng won $2.305 million as runner-up. Congratulations to the winner!

“Firstly I want to congratulate Qinwen on a sensational season and your team too who are very nice and its been a great competition. I want to thank the Saudi federation for putting on a great tournament, its my first time in Saudi Arabia, I’ve had more fun than I imagined and thanks for coming to watch a women’s tennis competition. I want to thank everyone who put this together and my team, its been a long season but I want to say thank you, its been so much fun, and my family, and the man above for allowing me to be here.”