WTA crowns Coco Gauff vs Zheng Qinwen as Match of the Year after a three-hour clay-court epic

With the 2025 season officially wrapped up, the WTA Awards have concluded with the unveiling of the "Moments of the Year." The award for Match of the Year went to Coco Gauff's incredible triumph over Zheng Qinwen during the clay swing, highlighting a growing rivalry at that point in the year that was unfortunately put on pause for the rest of the season due to the Chinese star's injury.

While the international media panel had already selected their performance-based winners—crowning Aryna Sabalenka as Player of the Year and Victoria Mboko as Newcomer of the Year—and the public had voted Olympic Gold Medalist Zheng as Fan Favorite despite her injury-plagued season, the final category was reserved for the specific matches and storylines that captured the world's imagination.

The fans have spoken, selecting the most unforgettable highlights across the tournament categories. In the WTA 1000s, Filipino sensation Alexandra Eala took the prize for her incredible Cinderella run at the Miami Open. In the WTA 500 category, the legendary Venus Williams was the winner and Maya Joint in the WTA 250 category for her epic win against Eala at Eastbourne Final.

It was the third showdown between two of the names that animated the WTA Tour during 2024 and remained protagonists in 2025. Coco Gauff arrived as World No. 3, while Zheng Qinwen sat at World No. 8. Both held massive clay-court credentials: Gauff was a runner-up at the French Open and Madrid Open just a week prior, while Zheng arrived as the Gold Medalist from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (played on Roland Garros clay), where she had defeated the nearly invincible Iga Swiatek along the way.

It was a chance for revenge for the Chinese star, who had lost both previous meetings: one year earlier at the same stage in the Rome quarterfinals in straight sets (7-6, 6-1), and in an epic WTA Finals championship match (6-3, 4-6, 6-7)—arguably one of the most contested year-end finals in recent memory.

Gauff came looking for redemption after a strong campaign at the Madrid Open a week earlier—featuring routine wins over rivals like Mirra Andreeva and Swiatek—but ending in a 1-6, 1-6 final loss to World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. In Rome, she had already beaten rivals like Raducanu and Andreeva (for the second consecutive tournament) to reach the semifinals, boasting 9 wins in her last 10 clay-court matches.

Zheng had a hesitant start to the season with just one win in her first three tournaments but found form during the Sunshine Double with quarterfinal appearances in Indian Wells and Miami. The clay swing—where she arrived as the reigning Paris 2024 Gold Medalist—hadn't yielded outstanding performances yet, and a first-round loss in Madrid raised doubts. However, in Rome, she was mounting a flawless campaign. She breezed through straight-set wins over Danilovic, Magdalena Frech, and Bianca Andreescu, and played one of the best matches of her career in the quarterfinals to overcome Sabalenka in straight sets—her first victory over the Belarusian after six consecutive defeats.

It was a true battle on the clay. The first set was defined by breaks from both sides—four each—until they reached a tiebreak. Both had chances to serve for the set, but it was decided in the breaker; after an hour and 15 minutes, Gauff took the lead 7-6(7-3). In the second set, Zheng managed an early break to hold the lead until 4-1, but serving doubts crept in on both sides. After a sequence of breaks, Gauff managed to claw back to 4-5 on serve. However, it wasn't enough, and a final break for Zheng gave her the set 6-4, as the match crossed the two-hour and 20-minute mark.

The third set lasted a total of one hour and 23 minutes, with Gauff taking three breaks on nine opportunities and Zheng converting three of seven. Everything would be decided once again in a tiebreak—just like the WTA Finals—as the match surpassed 3.5 hours. Just like the rest of the match, both were strong on the return with traded mini-breaks, but Gauff finally clinched the victory on her first match point, 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(4). She advanced to back-to-back finals after falling in Madrid and prepared to face Jasmine Paolini.

However, the battle of more than three and a half hours perhaps ended up taking its toll on Gauff a day later in the final against Paolini. The Italian took advantage of the home crowd and stunned the American—who arrived as the favorite—claiming the second WTA 1000 title of her career and restoring glory at the Rome Open for a local tennis player.

Gauff took a disappointing 6-4, 6-2 defeat, although she would have her chance for personal revenge a couple of weeks later at Roland Garros, where she would end up lifting the trophy—the second Grand Slam title of her career.