Coco Gauff is bouncing back in style! After a tough season with fewer titles than she’d hoped for, Gauff arrived in Riyadh fueled by an ambition to win —and it’s paying off big time. Now, as she readies herself for the WTA Finals championship match, the love and praise are pouring in. Her biggest cheerleaders? None other than her mom, Candi Gauff, and fellow American star Ben Shelton.

The American tennis sensation registered a remarkable victory against Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals of the tournament in straight sets, 7-6(4), 6-3. The match saw two of the bast hard-court players clash against each other, with Sabalenka leading the tour with 40 wins on the surface. Gauff was just behind her with 33. Gauff and Sabalenka split their eight previous meetings, but Sabalenka held the edge this season since she had bested the American in the semifinals of the Australian Open and Wuhan Open.

But besides avenging her last defeat to Sabalenka at the Wuhan Open, Gauff also set up some new records soon after she defeated the Belarusian star, and her mother along with Shelton could not be prouder. 

The 20-year-old became the youngest player to defeat the World No. 1 and World No. 2 in the same tournament since Maria Sharapova achieved the same feat in 2006 at the US Open. Remember, Gauff earlier defeated Iga Swiatek in the second match of the tournament, which was also her second victory against the Pole in the 14 encounters they have had on the courts, the first being the Semifinal of the Cincinnati Open last year. The latest feat, meanwhile, comes for the first time in Gauff’s career and her loved ones seem to be proud enough.

Taking to her Instagram account, Coco’s mother, Candi Gauff reshared a post by WTA which detailed the latest achievement of the player and captioned it, “❤️❤️❤️.” Similar reactions followed from Ben Shelton as well, who lauded the player’s latest run in the WTA Finals. Captioning the Instagram story, Shelton wrote “On a mission 😮‍💨,” signifying the athletic prowess of the player. And these praises are justified given the recent records that the WTA Star has broken after winning against Sabalenka.   

It is for the first time in her career that Gauff has defeated the No. 1 and No. 2 in the same tournament. In fact, she became the first American to do so since 2012, when Serena Williams defeated Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova in the WTA Finals. Besides, Gauff has also become the youngest player to qualify for the championship match of the WTA Finals since Caroline Wozniacki did it in 2010. Hence, the praises from her loved ones were evident. Notably, Gauff seemed to have learned her lesson from her loss against Sabalenka in Wuhan.

In Wuhan, Gauff took Sabalenka to three sets despite a career-high 21 double faults. Sabalenka edged her out in the end, winning 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 But the 20-year-old knew that the result could have been different had she minimized her serving errors.

That’s exactly what she did on Friday. Gauff broke her 4-4 tie with Sabalenka with a remarkable display from the service line and courageous work from the baseline. She deployed her forehand to beat Sabalenka with pace, while using her speed to extend points. This time, Sabalenka struggled to match the challenge.

Gauff outpaced Sabalenka in the tight opening set, hitting 11 to six. Sabalenka struck 18 forehand unforced errors. Both players broke twice in the opening set, but Gauff maintained sustained pressure, generating six break points to Sabalenka’s three.

“I knew I had worked hard on my serve since [Wuhan]. That was 21 free points that I gave. I knew if I could cut that in half, I would give myself a better chance and obviously I did well over that today. Obviously she’s a great player, but I just felt like if I can just play well and serve well, I had a good chance. And once, you know, I stepped on the court and realized I was feeling my serve, I just kind of had that belief that I can win,” Gauff said after the match.

As Gauff’s performance kept improving while the season approached conclusion, the love and praise from her loved ones also remained constant. Shelton and Canfi were also there to give a shout out to Coco after her victory in the China Open.  

Soon after the American star emerged victorious in the China Open, she had posted some pictures on Instagram of her unforgettable moments on-court with the trophy. Shelton was quick to share them on his story and captioned it “Young” with a goat emoji, signifying that he considers her as the new GOAT of the sport.

Gauff’s mother too, expressed happiness on her daughter’s victory and commented, “Amazing fight!!!! Never say die!!!” It is probably for this support that the star player has managed to remain positive even in the toughest of situations, which helps her to victory. 

“Was pretty positive” Coco Gauff reveals how she managed to outshine Aryna Sabalenka

Coco Gauff demonstrated sheer maturity while taking on Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals. She did not just remain calm but also worked on her service game, and shot only two double faults in the match. But more than her skills, Gauff credits her positive outlook and resilience for her dominant victory against the Belarusian star.

Speaking to Sky Sports after winning the match, Gauff said, “[I’ve been impressed with] how I’ve been able to stay in it, especially when I lost.” Continuing further, she detailed how she kept herself motivated throughout the match. “I was thinking of it as ‘This is one thing if you’re getting broken and then you’re not breaking back’, so I was getting broken and breaking back. I was pretty positive for the most. Obviously being up a double break in the second gave me confidence. Being down a break in the first, I knew I had to play for every point. Anything can happen out there.”

For now, it would be interesting to see if the American star can continue this dominant run and move past Qinwen Zheng as well to return with a title from Riyadh. While the fate of the match remains uncertain, it can definitely be anticipated to be a thrilling one.