Marta Kostyuk's season ended with a thud. After some high-end success in the late spring and summer, a wrist injury forced her to go on a slide entering the WTA Finals. Once at Indian Wells, the host of this season's year-end tournament, Kostyuk continued to lose.
She had already been eliminated from advancing to the knockout stages before she played Coco Gauff on Thursday, and was only in the Finals because top-ranked Elena Rybakina withdrew ahead of the event with a viral illness. Kostyuk was playing with house money, but she wasn't winning matches.
Gauff was in an odd predicament too. She needed to beat Kostyuk and hope that Jessica Pegula lost in her match to Linda Noskova for Gauff to advance. The tie-breaks get really weird at this year's WTA Finals, but Kostyuk had no worries about that.
Coco Gauff pulls off stunning turnaround against Marta Kostyuk at the WTA Finals
She was simply hoping to play well and stay healthy against Gauff, and then move on with her offseason. She'd had a great year, but 2027 could be better, as long as her wrist injury didn't linger.
The injury did linger into the first set against Gauff. The American jumped out to a break lead, and Kostyuk needed a medical timeout. She returned and then somehow found a way to win two straight games, including a break, of course, and got to within 4-5. The issue was that she was broken yet again while trying to even the set, and Gauff won the set 6-4 in sunny Indian Wells.
Gauff always seemed to have the advantage. Even when Kostyuk got a break in the opening set, Gauff was able to get it back immediately. Both players possess excellent athletic ability and speed, but Gauff was making fewer errors.
In the second set, though, Kostyuk got a break in the first game and then held. She jumped out to a 5-1 lead and appeared well on her way to evening the match. Gauff even needed a medical timeout herself, seemingly dealing with a leg issue.
The injury didn't stop Gauff from making a comeback, though. She held, then got a break, and in just a matter of moments, Gauff suddenly led 6-5, with Kostyuk serving to stay in the match. Mentally, Marta Kostyuk seemed done.
Physically, she was too. She would be broken again at 5-6, and Kostyuk had lost in straight sets. Now, Coco Gauff just needs Jessica Pegula to lose to Linda Noskova in her match for Gauff to move forward at the WTA Finals.
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