Coco Gauff has now beaten both of the Top 2, Sabalenka and Swiatek, at the WTA Finals
She’s the youngest woman to beat No. 1 and No. 2 at the same event since Maria Sharapova at the 2006 US Open.
Coco Gauff had already pulled off a big upset at the WTA Finals earlier in the week, defeating No. 2-ranked Iga Swiatek, 6-3, 6-4, in the round-robin portion of the tournament on Tuesday.
But she one-upped herself on Friday, defeating No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals of the year-end event, 7-6 (4), 6-3.
With those two wins, she’s now beaten the Top 2 players on the WTA rankings at the same event for the first time in her career.
And it’s a very rare feat.
She’s the first woman to do it since Elena Rybakina at Indian Wells in 2023—there, the Kazakh beat a No. 1-ranked Swiatek in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-2, and then a No. 2-ranked Sabalenka in the final, 7-6 (11), 6-4.
And at age 20, Gauff is the youngest woman to do it in much, much longer, since Maria Sharapova at the 2006 US Open. Sharapova, 19 at the time, defeated then-No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals, 6-0, 4-6, 6-0, and then-No. 2 Justine Henin in the final, 6-4, 6-4.
For the record, Gauff was two years old when Sharapova did that.
Gauff is also the first American woman to achieve the feat since Serena Williams at the 2012 WTA Finals—there, Serena beat No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in the round robin and No. 2 Sharapova in the final.
Serena pulled off the Top 2 double a record eight times at the 1999 US Open, 2000 Los Angeles, 2002 Miami, 2002 Roland Garros, 2005 Australian Open, 2007 Miami, 2012 Madrid and 2012 WTA Finals.
Gauff joins Serena among a total of seven American women to achieve the feat since WTA rankings officially began in 1975.
AMERICAN WOMEN TO BEAT TOP 2 AT SAME EVENT (since 1975):
Tracy Austin [3 times]
Martina Navratilova [2 times]
Serena Williams [8 times]
Venus Williams [4 times]
Jennifer Capriati [1 time]
Monica Seles [1 time]
Coco Gauff [1 time]