Coco Gauff battled past defending WTA Finals champion Iga Swiatek to book her place in the semifinals of the 2024 tournament.
The American star, 20, triumphed 6-3, 6-4, beating her rival for only the second time in 13 matches.
She secured victory in a quite peculiar match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – and survived despite making 11 double faults.
Gauff’s serve has been a major talking point this year, but back-to-back wins at the WTA Finals suggest progress is being made, and that a coaching change was the correct move.
Her dip in form, and fourth round exit at the US Open earlier this year, prompted Gauff to swap out Brad Gilbert for Matt Daly.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing on Tuesday as the straight-sets victory suggests, with six double faults coming in her first two service games of the second set that threatened to hand momentum back to her opponent.
But Swiatek, the world No. 2, struggled with her usually impressive return of serve, while her forehand also collapsed in the second half of the match.
The victory was Gauff’s first over her rival since the 2023 Cincinnati Open and snapped the Pole’s six-match winning streak at the WTA Finals.
Speaking afterwards, she revealed that she adapted her forehand to reduce her errors mid-match and get the win.
“I definitely changed because I was missing long quite a bit, so I was trying not to give her so many unforced errors,” Gauff said.
“I was just trying to be resilient and play it deep. The conditions are tough and the altitude tough.
“I was trying not to give her too many unforced errors. It’s just a game of cat and mouse in these conditions.
“If you are too aggressive sometimes you can miss. It was kind of weird.
“You can’t change the past. I’m in the process of changing things. There’s going to be good days and bad days.”
By booking her place in the last four of the WTA Finals, Gauff is now the youngest player to reach back-to-back semifinals since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009-10.
She is the youngest American to do so since Tracy Austin in 1979-80.
Gauff is now looking to go at least one step further than last year, and reach the final.
Swiatek, meanwhile, fell to 1-1 in the Orange Group and will face Jessica Pegula in a rematch of the US Open quarterfinal next.
Her defeat to Gauff has ensured Aryna Sabalenka will finish the season as the year-end World No.1 for the first time.
