Coco Gauff clawed out a 6-4, 7-5 round-robin victory over Marta Kostyuk on Thursday to keep her WTA Finals hopes alive in Indian Wells, California.
The world No 4 still needs help to reach the semi-finals of the elite season-ending event. If fifth-ranked compatriot Jessica Pegula beats Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova in Thursday’s final group match, Pegula will advance instead. Noskova has already qualified.
But Gauff did what she could with a gutsy straight-sets win. Trailing 5-1 in the second set, she saved three set points in the seventh game to launch a run of six straight games and seal the match.
The first set had also been a battle. Broken in the opening game, Gauff appeared to have seized control when she broke Kostyuk for a second time to take a 4-2 lead, then held for 5-2.
Kostyuk looked demoralized as she took a medical timeout for treatment on her right wrist.
But after having the wrist taped, she returned to hold serve, then broke Gauff as the American served for the set – helped by a pair of double faults.
Gauff regrouped to take the set, but was soon struggling again. After going down two breaks to trail 3-0 in the second, she received treatment for what she later described as back tightness.
Despite nine double faults, Gauff prevailed in one hour and 39 minutes.
“I’m not going to lie, [my] head was already in that third set,” Gauff said of her mindset when trailing 5-1.
“Then once it got to 5-4 I was like, ‘OK, I can win this set.’ I got a little bit lucky. She gave me a few errors. I’m glad I was able to close that out.”
