Did Coco Gauff just spoil her WTA Finals qualification announcement in Wuhan?

WUHAN, China—As of Saturday evening local time, only Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have officially secured berths to the WTA Finals in its inaugural trip to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But Coco Gauff sought to ease the suspense as she exited the Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open.

“I saw that I qualified on the ranking race,” said Gauff, referring to Live-Tennis.eu, a third-party website that presents live rankings. “Oops, they said they didn't announce it yet. If you look it up online, there's a checkmark by my name. They told me not to say anything. Sorry. But it's by my name. Yeah, LiveWTARanking.com. You can look it up.”

As the site is unofficial—and frequently updates the predicted point cut-off for the WTA Finals —one would ordinarily advise taking the information with a grain of salt. Gauff appeared certain, however, that she would be returning to the season-ending championships for a third consecutive year.

I'm excited. I'm looking at dresses. They have a lot of things planned for us. I'm super excited. Yeah, I heard it's going to be great. Coco Gauff on a third trip to the WTA Finals

“I found out maybe two days ago. I don't remember which round, by quarters or something,” she said after a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Aryna Sabalenka.

“Yeah, I'm really happy to be qualified. I'm happy to be going there. Honestly, going in[to Beijing] it was like, ‘Whatever happens, happens.’ Obviously, you want to do the more positive thing.”

Gauff began the Asian Swing on the bubble of qualifying, but effectively shored up her bid by winning the China Open—her second career WTA 1000 title—and making the semifinals in Wuhan, where she led Sabalenka by a set and a break before fading due to serving yips and 21 total double faults after about two and a half hours on court.

The 2023 US Open champion first qualified for the WTA Finals in 2022 and built on her round-robin finish the following year, when she reached the semifinals.

“It's my first time not playing doubles,” added Gauff, “So, that's going to be a different experience. But I'm excited. I'm looking at dresses. They have a lot of things planned for us. I'm super excited. Yeah, I heard it's going to be great, so I'm excited.”

Unofficially, Live-Tennis.eu also projects Jasmine Paolini, Elena Rybakina, Jessica Pegula, and Barbora Krejcikova, who is ranked outside the Top 8 but is eligible for a berth by virtue of winning Wimbledon earlier this year, will all feature at the Finals. That leaves one remaining spot, for which Zheng Qinwen is in pole position after reaching at least the semifinals in Wuhan.