"I'm happy to be back in Riyadh" - Coco Gauff qualifies for fourth consecutive WTA Finals, as she looks to defend her title

Despite a sketchy second half to her 2025 campaign, Coco Gauff has qualified for the WTA Finals in Riyadh. She will return to Saudi Arabia in hopes of regaining the title that she won last year.

She confirmed qualification with a three-sets victory over Belinda Bencic in the China Open. Gauff had already overcome Kamila Rakhimova and former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, which had her set up with a tie against the recent Wimbledon semi-finalist, who had started to find her best form after becoming a mother for the first time.

Despite Gauff snatching a 4-1 lead early on, Bencic fought back and won the next finve games to completely turn the first set on its head, taking her fourth set point to give her the early advantage. The second set was marred by controversy, with Bencic spilling out her frustrations with someone cheering before she was about to serve. Her and Gauff would then get involved in a heated debacle, in which Bencic was convinced that the American's team was playing mind games with her. From her, Bencic broke to make it 4-3, but was instantly pegged back by Gauff, who took command from here. She edged out the tiebreak to level proceedings, and comfortably swept Bencic aside in the third set to send her through to her third consecutive China Open quarter-final.

After the match, she said: "It was a tough match," Gauff said afterwards. "I had chances to close out the first set, but overall I'm really happy with how I fought. She was being really aggressive. I just tried my best today." When askes on qualifying for Riyadh, she said: "I'm happy to be back in Riyadh. I'm glad I was able to do it here."

There is a lot of pressure on Gauff's shoulders to perform this weekend, as she is the defending champion in Beijing, defeating Karolina Muchova in straight sets last year to pick up her second WTA 1000 title. She is still searching for her first this year, after losing the finals in Madrid and Rome in the clay swing. However, she will still be relieved of some pressure, as she is confirmed to join Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek in competing in the WTA Finals.

Incredibly, this is the fourth consecutive time Gauff has competed in the Finals, first featuring back in 2022 when she was just 18-years-old. She failed to win a match in that event, but made the semi-finals the following year, losing out to fellow countrywoman Jessica Pegula.

Last year, she made it out of Group B, defeating Pegula and Swiatek in straight sets before losing out on top spot to Barbora Krejcikova. This would set her up with a semi-final clash against world number one and recent US Open champion Sabalenka. This prospect did not faze her, as she stormed to victory to set up a clash with Zheng Qinwen in the final. Despite going a set behind, Gauff fought back and won a final set tiebreaker to clinch the title.

She will be hoping to do the same this year, but will need to step up her performance levels from what she has recently produced. The world number three had a phenomenal clay swing, losing just three matches, with a brace of them coming in finals. She made up for it with a mesmerising display at Roland Garros, coming back from a set down to defeat Sabalenka and claim her second Grand Slam title.

It has not been plain-sailing from there, however. She entered two grass events, losing in the first round in both of them, including Wimbledon. She then failed to make a huge impact in the North American hardcourt swing, enduring disappointing spells in the Canadian and Cincinnati Open, while losing out to Naomi Osaka in the fourth round of a tough US Open.

Depsite her poor on-court form she has portrayed at times, she is still winning enough matches to confrim herself as one of the best in the world, and that early season form is enough to confirm her place in the Finals once more.