World No. 3 Coco Gauff of the USA defeated China’s Zheng Qinwen (No. 7) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) in Riyadh on Saturday, after a breathless final lasting over three hours, to win her first WTA Masters at the age of 20. The 2023 US Open winner becomes the youngest winner of the tournament, which brings together the season’s eight best players since Maria Sharapova in 2004, after a week in which she dominated world No.2 Iga Swiatek in the group phase and No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.

For the flag-bearer of the American delegation at the last Olympic Games, who suffered the disappointment of being eliminated in the 2nd round in Paris, the season ends in apotheosis. Zheng Qinwen, the first Chinese finalist at the WTA Masters since Li Na in 2013, failed to become the first Asian player to triumph in this tournament created in 1972.

Gauff now leads 2-0 in her encounters with the Chinese, whom she had beaten more easily on the clay of Rome in the spring. The WTA Masters was being held in Riyadh for the first time, a choice about which Gauff had admitted to having “reservations” before the tournament began due to the human rights abuses alleged against the conservative kingdom by Western NGOs.

Thanks to her victory, the American pocketed a record check of $4.8 million, higher than the $4.4 million received by the winner of the 2019 edition, Ashleigh Barty.