Coco Gauff won the WTA Finals for the first time by rallying to beat Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the final on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The 20-year-old American came from 2-0 and 5-3 down in the final set and was two points from defeat at one stage.

Yet she took the set to a tiebreaker and won the first six points. Zheng threatened a comeback but Gauff took the victory off her third match point with a forehand winner as she came into the net.

Gauff beat the world’s top two players — Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek — on her run to the final at the season-ending event.

Zheng was looking to complete a season in which she reached a grand slam final for the first time at the Australian Open and delivered China’s first Olympic tennis singles gold medal.

Golf: Rory McIlroy’s charge at the Abu Dhabi Championship faltered when he found water off his drive and made double bogey on the last hole Saturday, leaving him five shots off the lead held by Paul Waring heading into the final round. Nine strokes off the lead after 36 holes, the No. 3-ranked McIlroy had closed to just three shots back in the third round when he pulled his tee shot on the par-5 No. 18, the ball bouncing off the rocks lining the fairway and ricocheting into the water. After a drop, McIlroy then hit an approach — his fourth shot — into the greenside bunker and could only make a 7, for a 3-under 69 and 13 under overall.

NBA: Pelicans F Zion Williamson was diagnosed with a left hamstring strain that will sideline him indefinitely. Williamson has averaged 22.7 points, eight rebounds and 5.3 assists this season but has missed four of New Orleans’ 10 games. Since the Pelicans selected Williamson first overall out of Duke in the 2019 draft, he has missed 210 out of a possible 400 regular-season games.