She had seen off each the world primary and two in Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek en path to the ultimate, and piled the stress on her opponent within the early levels in opposition to Zheng.
In what was solely their second assembly – Gauff having gained their first in straight units in Rome earlier this yr – Zheng, 22, was pressured to save lots of 4 break factors, together with three in a charming fifth recreation.
Nevertheless it was the Chinese language seventh seed who received the decisive break within the opener, a double fault from Gauff after a hat-trick of unforced errors giving Zheng the benefit from which she sealed the set as Gauff slammed a backhand into the online.
Zheng’s serve is one in every of her biggest weapons, however she struggled to indicate it off in opposition to Gauff, along with her first of solely 4 aces coming at the beginning of the second set after she had damaged Gauff once more.
With renewed willpower, the American restored parity in an excellent return recreation, after which the pair once more traded breaks. However the unperturbed Gauff broke Zheng’s serve for the third successive recreation to take the match to a decider.
At first of the third set, Gauff saved three break factors earlier than conceding as Zheng took again management on her serve – but it was solely short-term.
Gauff quickly broke again, her wonderful play on the internet rewarded as Zheng despatched a forehand lengthy, earlier than securing one other love maintain.
Zheng then gained three successive video games, dropping simply 4 factors alongside the way in which, and seemed to be sauntering in the direction of the win. However a recreation of errors when serving for the match introduced Gauff again into competition.
That was the beginning of the American’s personal three-game run, her spree halted as Zheng saved two championship factors to make sure the event can be determined by a tie-break, which Gauff completely dominated.
The victory marks her third title of a yr through which she didn’t attain a singles Grand Slam closing, along with her greatest runs coming on the Australian Open and on the Roland Garros clay, when she was eradicated within the semi-finals.
Fourth-round exits adopted at Wimbledon and in New York, the place she had been defending her maiden main title from 2023.
Gauff beforehand mentioned she had reservations about enjoying in Saudi Arabia due to the nation’s human rights document, however mentioned after her win: “Hopefully there’s extra occasions right here.”