Coco Gauff, now without Pere Riba as co-coach, crushes Ons Jabeur at WTA Finals

The pressure is off Coco Gauff with her Grand Slam breakthrough at Flushing Meadows. Based on her play since the US Open, that's a scary thing for the rest of the tour.

The 19-year-old collected her 50th victory of 2023 Monday night at the WTA Finals with a ruthlessly efficient, 6-0, 6-1 win over world No. 7 Ons Jabeur. It was Gauff's first match win at the season-ending championships, after an 0-3 showing last fall in Fort Worth, and she becomes the first teenager to win a half-century of matches in a season since Caroline Wozniacki (in 2008 and 2009).

Following a summer hard-court stretch in which Gauff went 18-1 with three titles, she reached the semifinals in Beijing, losing only to Monday's other round-robin winner, Iga Swiatek. Like the Pole, the American collected a bagel set against an overwhelmed opponent—Jabeur won just four points over the first four games, and didn't hit a winner in the first set.

When the match was suspended at 6-0, 1-0 due to rain—after just 28 minutes' worth of play—Jabeur had won only 10 of 39 points, and just one of 10 points when returning Gauff's exceptional first serve.

But as impressive as Gauff's start was, it was even more impressive that she maintained her searing form after an hour-long delay, against a wounded but obviously talented adversary. After finally getting on the board with a service hold, Jabeur earned a game point for 2-2. It was "a completely different" Jabeur, said Tennis Channel's Lindsay Davenport.

And then, it wasn't. Three points later, Gauff broke right back for a 3-1 lead.

"I think she wasn't playing her best tennis, that was obvious," Gauff told Tennis Channel after the match. "Just tried to stay focused. The biggest thing I'm proud of was how I handled the rain delay."

What followed: Hold, break, hold. Game, set, match.

The most newsworthy result of this lopsided match was Davenport's revelation that Pere Riba was no longer part of Gauff's coaching team. But with Brad Gilbert still in Coco's corner in Cancun, the Summer of Coco looks to be continuing into the fall.