RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The last final of the 2024 Hologic WTA Tour season will be a showcase of two of the tour’s bright young stars battling it out for the biggest prize money check in women’s tennis history. On Saturday, World No.3 Coco Gauff will take on No.7 Zheng Qinwen in the championship duel at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF.

WTA Finals Riyadh: Scores | Schedule | Standings

Gauff, 20, and Zheng, 22, are the youngest pair of finalists at the season-ending championships since Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova in 2004. Both have enjoyed a strong surge through the end of the year. Zheng has won a tour-leading 31 matches since Wimbledon, including Olympic gold in Paris. Gauff has dropped just two matches since the US Open, winning her second WTA 1000 title at the China Open last month and now becoming the youngest WTA Finals finalist since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. 

Here’s everything you need to know about the final showdown of the season:

When is the singles final?

Both singles and doubles finals will be played on Saturday, Nov. 9. The doubles final will take place at 4pm local time, and the singles final will close out the WTA season, not before 7pm local time.

Riyadh is on Arabia Standard Time (GMT +3). 

What are the points and prize money at stake?

By making the final after going 2-1 in round-robin play, both Gauff and Zheng have each earned $2,305,000 in prize money. Saturday’s winner will take home an additional $2.5M, bringing the champion’s total take to $4,805,000. It is the largest prize money check in the history of women’s professional tennis.

How did Gauff and Zheng get here?

This week, Gauff became the youngest player to defeat No.1 and No.2 at a tournament since Maria Sharapova at the 2006 US Open. After defeating Jessica Pegula in her opener, Gauff eased past No.2 Iga Swiatek in the group stage before losing to Barbora Krecjikova to finish 2-1 in the Orange Group. Gauff rebounded by toppling No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals, winning 7-6(4), 6-3 to make her second final in her last three tournaments.

Seeded No.7, Zheng advanced as the second qualifier out of the Purple Group after going 2-1, notching wins over Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini. Her sole loss in the group came to Sabalenka. In her first WTA Finals semifinal, Zheng held off Wimbledon champion Krejcikova 6-3, 7-5. With the win, the 22-year-old became the youngest player to make the final in her WTA Finals debut since Petra Kvitova in 2011. 

How do they stack up?

Gauff and Zheng faced each other for the first time earlier this year on clay at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Gauff took the match, 7-6(4), 6-1 to advance to the semifinals. 

What milestones are at stake on Sunday?

Gauff is bidding to win her ninth Hologic WTA Tour title and third of the season. She defended her title at the ASB Classic in Auckland and won her second WTA 1000 title last month at the China Open. 

Zheng is trying to win her sixth career title, a tally that includes her historic Olympic victory over the summer. In addition to Olympic gold, Zheng also picked up titles at the Palermo Ladies Open and the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo just two weeks ago.

What are they saying?

Zheng: “Last time I remember the reason why I lost against her is because I’m out of strength in this second set, and I feel I can’t put any first serve in because I don’t have more power anymore. That’s why I’m trying to improve my physical part. But after half a year, I feel the situation is different. I got more endurance in my physical. It’s going to be a different match, different surface. She’s obviously such a good player winning a Slam at a young age. It’s going to be a new challenge for me, but I’m really excited and really happy to face her.”

Gauff: “I think she’s a very athletic player. She has a great serve and pretty good all around the court. I think, you know, it’s just going to be who can play better that day. Yeah, I feel like she’s in peak form. She played well in Beijing, finals in Wuhan, won a gold.”

Zheng: “I’m trying to always improve on the physical part, because I felt, why those girls have such a large shoulder, and me, I look so skinny on court? I don’t like that, you know? Because when I was young, I always looked to Serena Williams, so I was reaching for that powerful, explosive tennis. So I put lot of effort on the physical, but at the same time, I put a lot of hours on the court to fix my game, to always find more improvement.”

Gauff: “I know there’s been a lot of Chinese fans coming — because I know they’ve been at
my matches — and they say they come all the way from China to see us play. So I’m assuming they’re going to be rooting for her tomorrow. Hopefully, there are some on my side, too. I think it’ll be fun and atmosphere for both of us, and I think we’re both excited and we appreciate the crowd size has grown every match this week. So I think that just shows the progress of just bringing a new sport here and in an amount of time of just like a week and a half, how different it is. So I’m very excited. Hopefully, I can qualify next year and see the growth.”