It was Gauff’s second win over Swiatek in 13 meetings. Gauff, 20, is unbeaten in the orange round-robin group having defeated fellow American Jessica Pegula in the previous round.

French Open champion Swiatek lost in the US Open quarterfinals in September and was leapfrogged in the world rankings by Sabalenka after she skipped the WTA Tour’s Asian swing due to fatigue. Gauff secured the title at the China Open in Beijing and reached the semifinals in Wuhan.

Swiatek had dominated Gauff in their previous meetings, but the 23-year-old Pole looked rusty on her return after a two-month layoff, securing a comeback win over Barbora Krejcikova in her opening match in Riyadh.

Swiatek can only qualify for the semifinals if she beats Pegula and Gauff also defeats Krejcikova on Thursday.

Wimbledon champion Krejcikova’s 6-3, 6-3 win against Jessica Pegula earlier on Tuesday ended the sixth-seeded American’s chances of qualifying for the semifinals in Riyadh.

Eighth-seeded Krejcikova, who retired from the Ningbo Open quarterfinals last month due to a back injury, bounced back from her opening 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 loss to Swiatek in the orange group to keep her hopes of reaching the final four alive.

“I was fighting for every ball and knew I had to play my best tennis. So, I was trying to play that and be really solid to put as many balls to the other side as I could,” Krejcikova said on court.

Pegula suffered her second straight-sets defeat of the week and will play her final round-robin match against Swiatek on Thursday.