24 Years After a Young Venus Williams Took the WTA Finals by Storm, Coco Gauff Follows in the Legend’s Footsteps With a Commanding Display
Coco Gauff earned the right to play in the WTA Finals for two years in a row. After a slow start to 2023, she turned her season around in August and managed to win three significant tournaments. Currently, she is the only teenager in the season-ending tournament, a feat she achieved last year. However, her run in the 2022 WTA Finals did not go well, losing every round-robin match. But she is focused on turning it around this year and it is going well for the US Open champion. After her first round bout, she created history by emulating the legendary Venus Williams.
Going into the WTA Finals, along with her doubles partner Jessica Pegula, Gauff was looking forward to making sure that the duo did not repeat their performance from last year. Along with Gauff, Pegula has also got off to a great start.
Coco Gauff recreates Venus Williams’ iconic feat
After winning the US Open, Gauff gained some much needed momentum. However, all was not looking bright. In the China Open, she sustained an injury and lost her streak of 16 consecutive wins. She also revealed that she would drop out of the Billie Jean King Cup due to the injury. Going into the WTA Finals, her form was looking rather bleak.
However, Gauff won her first round with a dominant performance against Ons Jabeur. Gauff beat her 6-0, 6-1 and became the first American teenager to win a match in the Finals in over 20 years. It was revealed by the official ‘X’ account of the WTA. The tweet read, “Coco Gauff is the first American teenager to win a WTA Finals match since Venus Williams (1999). #WTAFinals“.
Her dominant victory over Jabeur was an accomplishment in itself. But ending the spell of her morale sapping losses in the Finals gives fans more confidence in her ability to lift the Billie Jean King trophy. Her win also removed a blemish from her record, along with her doubles partner’s.
Jessica Pegula gets over her 2022 blunder with Gauff
When Gauff and Pegula stepped into the 2022 WTA Finals in singles and doubles, they hoped for better results. However, they would leave the tournament with their dreams demolished. They lost all their matches in both singles and doubles and never had a chance to go farther than the round-robin stages. But Pegula and the 2023 US Open champ have achieved redemption.
As the first rounds came to an end, both players won their respective matches with assertive displays of skills and poise. They have set themselves on the path to attain their best performance in the WTA Finals. Now, they will be looking to go further and lift the trophy. Can the American duo secure an unprecedented achievement by winning in both singles and doubles?
