Coco Gauff achieves idol Venus Williams' WTA Finals feat in Cancun

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Coco Gauff has become the first American female teenager since Venus Williams in 1999 to win a match at the WTA Finals, via OptaAce. Gauff, 19, started her WTA Finals campaign in Cancun with a dominant 6-0 6-1 win over Ons Jabeur.

Gauff, who made her WTA Finals debut last year, went 0-3 in Fort Worth a year ago. But this time, Gauff is off to a very strong start to the WTA Finals as the 19-year-old American made a statement win in her Cancun opener. With that win, Gauff - who grew up idolizing Williams - became the first American teenager since her idol to win a match at the prestigious season-ending tournament.

1 - Coco Gauff is the first teenager to win a WTA Finals match since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009 and the first American since Venus Williams in 1999. Resplendent.#WTAFinals | @WTA @WTA_insider @WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/ljiNL3cq4Y — OptaAce (@OptaAce) October 31, 2023

How Gauff demolished Jabeur?

Gauff got off to an outstanding start to the match as the American gave no chance to Jabeur in the opener.

In the first set, Gauff didn't allow Jabeur a single game or a break point. After not winning a single game in the first set, Jabeur finally got on the board in the second game of the second set, when she saved Gauff's break point to tie the set to one game apiece.

But Jabeur getting on the board didn't change much as Gauff went on to win the next five games and complete a dominant two-set win. After the match, Gauff kept it very respectful toward Jabeur. "Ons is a great player, so I felt really unsteady the whole match even though it didn't [look] like that.

But I'm just happy to finally get a win here in this event," Gauff said after beating Jabeur. Meanwhile, Jabeur praised Gauff's performance and admitted that she didn't play well at all. "She played really well. She played a correct match, didn't make a lot of mistakes. On my part, I did make a lot of mistakes," Jabeur said after losing to Gauff.