– It was a great match, I just did my best to hang in there and I never gave up. Sometimes you might think you won’t win but I just pushed that thought away. I said to myself, “another point, another chance”, says Gauff according to the BBC.
The tournament was played for the first time in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the prize money had increased by 69 percent since last year in Cancun, Mexico.
Gauff took home SEK 52 million, which is the largest prize sum in the history of women’s tennis – and probably in women’s sports in general.
It was a drama before Gauff could lie down and scream out his joy of victory. In the tiebreaker, Zheng led both 2-0 and 5-3 and at one point was just two points away from winning the match.
The match took three hours and four minutes to play, which is the longest final since having statistics since 2008.