Coco delight at qualifying for tour finals

COCO Gauff has become the youngest player since Maria Sharapova to qualify for the WTA Finals in singles.

The 18-year-old world number seven has achieved the rare feat of reaching the year-end tournament in both singles and doubles after an excellent season, which included reaching her first grand slam final at the French Open.

Gauff (pictured), who defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto 7-6 (1) 6-3 to reach the third round of the Guadalajara Open, will be the youngest participant since Sharapova in 2005 and the youngest American since Lindsay Davenport 28 years ago.

She said: “It means a lot. Honestly I didn’t think about it until I realised how close I was and I think I went maybe a little bit nervous in the end but I’m super excited to be playing in the WTA Finals, especially in the USA, and qualifying in singles and doubles is definitely a good achievement.

“I didn’t expect that when I set my goals at the beginning of the year. I’m really happy and I hope I can do a good performance there.”

Gauff joins Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur, her doubles partner Jessica Pegula and Caroline Garcia in the eight-woman field for the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas beginning on October 31.

The Guadalajara Open is the final qualifying tournament and seven women remain in contention for the last three spots. Top seed Paula Badosa, a semi-finalist at the WTA Finals last year, saw her qualification hopes end when she retired through illness after losing the first set 6-2 against Victoria Azarenka.

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, beaten 2-6 6-3 7-6 (8) by Pegula, is also out of the race along with Belinda Bencic and Liudmila Samsonova, who defeated second seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 2-6 6-2 but saw other results go against her. Sabalenka could yet qualify, while Veronika Kudermetova, Madison Keys, Danielle Collins and Jelena Ostapenko all kept their hopes alive with victories.