World number three Coco Gauff and number seven Zheng Qinwen will square off in the championship match of the WTA Finals in Riyadh after claiming impressive victories on Friday.
The 20-year-old Gauff knocked out world number one Aryna Sabalenka 7-6, 6-3 to become the youngest player to reach the final at the season-ending championships since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.
Zheng, a gold medallist in singles at the Olympics this year, became the first tournament debutante to reach the final at the WTA Finals since 2021 with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.
Gauff improved to 5-4 head-to-head against Sabalenka, and proved to be 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 number one for a reason,” said the 2023 US Open champion.
Gauff beat Zheng in their sole previous meeting, on clay in Rome earlier this season, and the American was formerly coached by Pere Riba, who currently works with the Chinese player.
“She’s playing great tennis,” said Gauff 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 will feature the youngest combined age for the two finalists at the WTA Finals 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 one-all, after saving two break points.
Several 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, the 22-year-old Zheng needed one hour and 40 minutes to overcome Krejcikova in their semi-final encounter, firing nine aces along the way.
Zheng led 6-3, 3-0 before the eighth-seeded Krejcikova launched a comeback but the Chinese star regained control of the match to make it two wins from two clashes against 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.
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HAEMOGLOBIN DISORDERS EXPLAINED
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Veere di Wedding
Dir: Shashanka Ghosh
Starring: Kareena Kapoo-Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania
Verdict: 4 Stars
More on animal trafficking
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
AIR
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Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
