Coco Gauff of the United States returns a shot to Marketa Vondrousova, of the Czech Republic, throughout a ladies’s singles match at the WTA Finals tennis championships, in Cancun, Mexico, Friday, Nov. 3, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP
Coco Gauff overcame 17 double-faults and got here again after being a recreation away from elimination at the WTA Finals, ultimately pulling out a 5-7 7-6(4) 6-3 victory over Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in a round-robin match to keep in competition for a semifinal berth.
“Mental toughness is the biggest thing I’m pleased with,” Gauff mentioned on Friday.
(*17*) Gauff, the 19-year-old from Florida who received the U.S. Open in September, dropped 4 consecutive video games and 16 of 21 factors to go from main the opening set to dropping it and trailing 1-0 in the subsequent.
There was a 25-minute rain delay early in the second set; maybe that helped Gauff regroup a bit.
Still, Vondrousova managed to get in entrance and serve for the victory at 6-5 in the second. Gauff broke there to keep in it.
And after briefly trailing in the third set, too, Gauff grabbed 5 of the match’s final six video games to enhance to 2-1 at the season-ending championship for the prime eight gamers in ladies’s tennis.
Vondrousova went 0-3 and won’t advance.
The third-seeded Gauff’s hopes for getting to the occasion’s semifinals for the first time hinged on the results of Friday’s final match: Iga Swiatek (2-0), who already was assured a berth in the ultimate 4, in opposition to Ons Jabeur (1-1).
“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 mentioned, “so I’m really happy I was able to buckle down and do my best to get through that.” Earlier on Friday, No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka reached the semifinals for the second consecutive 12 months, holding on to beat Elena Rybakina 6-2 3-6 6-3 in a contest that was repeatedly interrupted by rain the night time earlier than.
Play was halted on Thursday night time with Rybakina about to strive to drive a third set by serving for the second at 5-3. When they resumed, she did simply that. But Sabalenka got here via in the decider — though not with out a little bit of stress in the final recreation: She wanted to save 5 break factors, and then required 4 match factors to finish it.
“Really tough conditions, and I’m super happy that I was able to get this win, no matter what,” mentioned Sabalenka, who double-faulted 15 instances.
This was a rematch of the Australian Open ultimate in January, additionally received by Sabalenka.
Sabalenka went 2-1 in round-robin play and superior as the second-place finisher in her group. Jessica Pegula, who beat Maria Sakkari on Thursday to go 3-0, completed atop their group.
Rybakina was eradicated with the loss on Friday.
There have been a half-dozen rain delays throughout Thursday’s stop-start-stop motion.
“Just so much ups and downs,” mentioned Rybakina, who received Wimbledon in 2022. AP SSC SSC
