CANCUN, Mexico—Coco Gauff overcame 17 double-faults and came back after being a game away from elimination at the WTA Finals on Friday, eventually moving into the semifinals after pulling out a 5–7, 7–6 (4), 6–3 victory over Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in a round-robin match.
“Mental toughness is the biggest thing I’m pleased with,” Gauff said. “That was a tough match. She’s not an easy player. Not easy conditions. And I stayed in there, every point, just fighting.”
She will face her good friend—and doubles partner–Jessica Pegula on Saturday in an all-American match with a berth in the final at stake.
The other semifinal at the season-ending championship will feature No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka against the woman she replaced atop the rankings in September, No. 2 Iga Swiatek. The year-end No. 1 spot is on the line in Cancun, with Swiatek needing to grab the title in order to replace Sabalenka.
Gauff, the 19-year-old from Florida who won the U.S. Open in September, finished 2–1 in round-robin action.
Four-time major champion Swiatek won their group by going 3–0, including a 6–1, 6–2 win against Ons Jabeur in windy and rainy conditions on Friday.
Sabalenka reached the semifinals for the second consecutive year, holding on to beat Elena Rybakina 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 on Friday in a contest repeatedly interrupted by showers the night before. That made Sabalenka 2–1 and allowed her to finish second in the other round-robin group, behind the unbeaten Pegula.
Gauff dropped four consecutive games and 16 of 21 points to go from leading the opening set to dropping it and trailing 1-0 in the next. There was a 25-minute rain delay early in the second set; perhaps that helped Gauff regroup a bit.
Still, Vondrousova managed to get in front and serve for the victory at 6–5 in the second. Gauff broke there to stay in it. And after briefly trailing in the third set, too, Gauff grabbed five of the match’s last six games. Vondrousova went 0–3 in the group stage.
“Every match, you want to win, but I knew that I needed to get (at least) a set–and hopefully a win–to even have the chance to move on,“ Gauff said, ”so I’m really happy I was able to buckle down and do my best to get through that.”
Sabalenka vs. Rybakina was halted Thursday night with Rybakina about to try to force a third set by serving for the second at 5–3. When they resumed, she did just that. But Sabalenka came through in the decider–although not without a bit of tension in the last game: She needed to save five break points, and required four match points to end it.
“Really tough conditions, and I’m super happy that I was able to get this win, no matter what,” said Sabalenka, who double-faulted 15 times.
This was a rematch of the Australian Open final in January, also won by Sabalenka.
Rybakina was eliminated with the loss Friday.
There were a half-dozen rain delays during Thursday’s stop-start-stop action.
“Just so much ups and downs,” said Rybakina, who won Wimbledon in 2022.
