It’s been quite a run for Coco Gauff, and the tour’s end is near! The 21-year-old is competing at the WTA Finals as the third seed and, more importantly, the defending champion. She has a lot riding on her. Her campaign started with a loss against fellow American Jessica Pegula. But she picked up the pace in her next match, beating Italy’s Jasmine Paolini.

After the first-round loss, Gauff was honest about what went wrong. Speaking to Tennis Channel on Tuesday after her 6-3, 6-2 win over Paolini, she said, “I just try to give myself the best chance to win. I felt like my last match I wasn’t so positive so I was just trying not to let that be a repeat today.” One step closer to the semifinals, Gauff was asked if being the defending champion was adding pressure.

“Yes and no, I think. Knowing that no one has defended in however many years, definitely takes the pressure off and honestly I think it’s a reason,” Coco explained, “You’re playing the top in the world, this round robin format is so hard. I’m used to when I’m losing, I’m sulking in bed for a few days and having to come back and play matches is so unique so I’m just happy that I was able to get through this one today.”

The last WTA player to win back-to-back titles at the WTA Finals was Serena Williams. Her idol! Williams did it three times in a row from 2012 to 2014. Overall, she won five titles and was a finalist twice. The bar is high, but as Gauff said, it hasn’t happened in a long time, so that eases some pressure off her shoulders.

Ahead of the tournament, she brushed aside any talk about chasing history. “I’m not thinking about that. I really just want to focus on my first match ahead and take it one match at a time. I think that’s what I did last year. Going to try to keep that mindset,” she told UAE news outlet,The National.

Against Jasmine Paolini, Coco Gauff did exactly that. The American came out firing, she broke Paolini in the first game, and raced to a 3-0 lead after saving three break points from love-40 down. The Italian tried to claw her way back, pushing for a 4-4 tie, but the American shut the door, winning five points in a row to take command at 5-3. The second set never lost pace, as Gauff broke again in the fifth and seventh games to wrap up the match 6-2.

Now just one round from another semifinal appearance, Gauff is hitting her stride again. Confidence is flowing, the baseline game looks sharp, and even her coach believes she has the fire to go all the way this week.

Coco Gauff’s coach speaks of her prowess since the French Open

Jean-Cristophe Faurel, who’s been coaching Coco Gauff on and off for six years, praised her fierce big-match mentality ahead of the WTA Finals kicked off. “She’s amazing in the ability she has to just close everything,” he said. Even though Coco didn’t get past Jessica Pegula this time, she definitely showed that mindset strong in today’s match.

Faurel pointed to the French Open final as the best example of Coco’s focus. “Like every player, she can be irritated or distracted when she plays and look at us too much. She may have looked at us two times. She was in the zone. This makes her different from many, many players. Semifinals, final, big match… She plays her best tennis most of the time. I think she’s 11-for-14 in finals.” That calm under pressure is what sets her apart.

Her 2025 French Open win sealed her spot as a rising star. She beat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a thrilling three-set final, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4. This was Gauff’s second Grand Slam singles trophy, following her 2023 US Open title, also over Sabalenka. She became the first American to win Roland Garros since Serena Williams in 2015 and the youngest player since Maria Sharapova to claim multiple Slams on different surfaces. The final was a rollercoaster, lasting two hours and 38 minutes, with Sabalenka’s 70 unforced errors swinging the match.

After that French Open high, Coco kept competing strong without stacking titles. She made it to the China Open semis before falling to Amanda Anisimova, then bounced back to win the Wuhan Open, beating Pegula 6-4, 7-5. That victory gave her a third WTA 1000 title and her 11th singles win overall. She also became the first American to win Wuhan since Venus Williams in 2015.

Now Coco Gauff is one match away from the semifinals. She’ll face Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday in their first meeting since the French Open. Can she take down the world No. 1 again and keep her momentum rolling?