Coco Gauff became the newest WTA Finals champion after beating Qinwen Zheng in the final. She became the first American to win the trophy since Serena Williams bagged the title in 2014.
20-year-old Gauff prevailed over the Chinese 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in a heated contest. The American was on a shaky pitch until Zheng served for the match at 5-4 in the decider.
After the three-hour and four-minute encounter, Coco Gauff became the youngest player to win the 2024 WTP Finals crown since Maria Sharapova in 2004.
In what is paving a way for a great rivalry, Gauff had beaten Zheng at the Rome WTA 1000 event last year.
The result meant Coco Gauff took home $4.85 million as the prize money, the most lucrative prize at a WTA event. The Riyadh event got the Americans more money than the Grand Slam last year. Gauff earned $3 million for winning the 2023 US Open.
Runner-up Zheng, pocketed $2.3 million for reaching the final in Riyadh. She scripted history as the only second Asian player to reach the summit clash at the WTA Finals since Li Na in 2013.
Aryna Sabalenka, walked away with $1,035,000 after the semi-final loss to Coco Gauff. The Belarusian topped the Purple Group at 2-1 with successive wins over Qinwen Zheng and Jasmine Paolini. However, she lost to Elena Rybakina, preventing her from a clean sweep of the group stage.
Barbora Krejcikova, too, took home $1,035,000 for her semi-final appearance.The Czech player and World No. #13 topped the Orange Table . After narrowly losing to Iga Swiatek in the opening round, Krejcikova posted wins against Gauff and Pegula to finish with 2-1 in the group stage. The eighth seed crashed out to Qinwen Zheng in the knockout stage.
Iga Swiatek failed to progress to the knockout stage of WTA Finals 2024 and had to settle for $1,035,000 as prize money. The Pole made an exit after losing to Gauff. Swiatek’s win against Daria Kasatkina (Pegula’s stand-in) did not help in her progress.
Jasmine Paolini had to bow out of the tournament following losses to Zheng and Sabalenka, but made sure to take home a $685,000 paycheck. For context, the Italian won the WTA 1000 in Dubai for the most significant win of her career, collecting $523,485.
Also Read: Top Players With Most WTA Finals Titles
Elena Rybakina was rewarded $685,000 for her efforts at the 2024 WTF Finals , which is $100,000 more than the $585,000 she earned for reaching the finals of the Miami Open in March.
Rybakina lost her first two matches against Qinwen Zheng and Jasmine Paolini in Riyadh, but ended the campaign on a winning note by defeating World number one Aryna Sabalenka in her last round-robin fixture.
Jessica Pegula minted $275,000 for her two appearances in Riyadh as she was compelled to withdraw due to injury. The American, a finalist last season, lost both her matches to Barbora Krejcikova and Coco Gauff in the Orange Group .
