Coco Gauff solves Aryna Sabalenka for first final at WTA Finals, will face Zheng Qinwen for Riyadh title

Zheng Qinwen has piled up the victories in an impressive second half of 2024 that has now seen the Paris Olympics champion reach the semifinals of the WTA Finals on her debut.

In a win-or-go-home situation at Riyadh, Zheng blasted past Jasmine Paolini, 6-1, 6-1, to post her 30th win from 34 matches contested since Wimbledon. The powerful display clinched Zheng second place in the Purple Group behind world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

"It's one of the best performances I had during this year," Zheng said on court afterwards. "Really good percentange of first serves. I enjoyed a lot tonight to play here."

Zheng put 64 percent of her first serves in play.

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The world No. 7 broke Paolini in the third game of the clash, and never looked back. Zheng held from start to finish thanks to a dominant serving display that kept the Italian guessing.

The 22-year-old matched that energy on the flip side of the coin, getting on top of the two-time major finalist’s serve with her heavy returns to convert five breaks throughout the encounter. On match point, Zheng fired her 12th ace to seal the victory after 68 minutes.

The Shiyan native finished with 24 winners to just 14 unforced errors and won 77 percent of her first-serve points. Zheng is the second woman from her nation to advance out of the round-robin stage of the year-end event, following Li Na's 2013 runner-up showing.

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