Coco Gauff of the United States Wins 2024 Auckland Classic for Second Year in a Row

This was the first title Gauff has successfully defended in her career.

Coco Gauff, 19, of the United States defeated Elina Svitolina, 29, of Ukraine to claim the Women’s Singles title at the 2024 Auckland Classic in Auckland, New Zealand (a WTA 250 event). The score in the final was 6-7 (4-7 tiebreaker), 6-3 and 6-3 in favor of Gauff.

This was the second match Gauff and Svitolina have played against each other on the WTA Tour - with Svitolina winning their prior meeting. Today’s victory is the first title Gauff has won on the 2024 WTA Tour and the seventh title of her career in single’s competition.

Heading into this tournament, Gauff was ranked as the Number 3 tennis player on the 2024 WTA Tour, while Svitolina carried the Number 25 designation. By winning in Auckland, Gauff has received 250 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Svitolina has picked up 163 points.

Moreover, Gauff was the tournament’s reigning champion. This year’s win is the first time she has successfully defended a title in her single’s career. She is the first player to win the title in back-to-back years since Julia Görges of Germany in 2018 and 2019.

Gauff arrived in the final after winning against Claire Liu of the United States (No. 95), Brenda Fruhvirtová of the Czech Republic (No. 117), Varvara Gracheva of France (No. 42), and Emma Navarro of the United States (No. 31). 

In the other half of the main draw, Svitolina defeated Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark (No. 256), Emma Raducanu of the United Kingdom (No. 301), Marie Bouzková of the Czech Republic (No. 36), and Wang Xiyu of China (No. 71). 

The revised rankings for the 2024 WTA Tour will be officially released on Monday, January 8. The tour will then play two tournaments from January 8 to 13: the Adelaide International in Adelaide, Australia (a WTA 500 event) and the Hobart International in Hobart, Australia (a WTA 250 event). Both tournaments will be played on hard courts.

Belinda Bencic of Switzerland (No. 19) is the reigning champion at the Adelaide International. However, she is not competing at the event this year as she is pregnant with her first child. Meanwhile, Lauren Davis of the United States (No. 72) is the reigning champion at the Hobart International. She too isn’t competing anywhere this week as she recovers from an injury.