Brad Gilbert picks the three best ‘movers’ on the WTA Tour and predicts Coco Gauff vs Marta Kostyuk

Coco Gauff will play Marta Kostyuk in her final group-stage match at the 2026 WTA Finals.

If Gauff wins and Jessica Pegula loses to Linda Noskova, she will advance to the semi-finals in Indian Wells. Any other set of results will eliminate Gauff from the WTA Finals, two years after her title win in Saudi Arabia.

Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, has now predicted whether his former pupil will beat Kostyuk at the WTA Finals and picked his best three ‘movers’ in women’s tennis.

Brad Gilbert says Coco Gauff is ‘by far’ the best mover in women’s tennis and backs her to beat Marta Kostyuk

“I would say Coco [Gauff] is the best mover on the tour by far, I would put Iga [Swiatek] the second best mover, and Marta [Kostyuk] the third,” said Gilbert during the latest episode of ‘The Big T Podcast‘.

“But Marta has struggled here. Couple days before the tournament, she was an alternate. She was in LA shooting a nice Wilson ad; she gets the late call that she’s playing and came in from Ningbo, where she got injured in her wrist. I think she’s been a little bit banged up and really struggled and hasn’t been able to play the type of tennis that we’ve seen from her all year.

Marta Kostyuk at the 2026 WTA finals (0-2)

• [LOSS] vs Linda Noskova, 2-6, 4-6

• [LOSS] vs Jessica Pegula, 2-6, 5-7

“I think this is a great opportunity for Coco. Even if she wins this match, she doesn’t control her destiny, but you like to finish the year on a positive note. I think this is a great opportunity, especially after Marta has lost both of her matches in straight sets. I think this is a good opportunity for Coco to win this in straight sets. I like Coco in this matchup; I think she’s going to be too solid.

“Surprisingly Marta, her best shot, the backhand, has really struggled, and her first serve percentage has been nowhere. If she came to the desert, she forgot about bringing her serve, and she’s had quite a few double faults. The serve has been a bit of an issue. I really like Coco in this one.”

Gauff is certainly the favourite to beat Kostyuk, given their respective performances at this year’s WTA Finals. Gauff lost to Noskova last time out, but beat Pegula in her opener, while the Ukrainian has yet to win a set in California. The 22-year-old also leads their head-to-head 4-2 and beat Kostyuk when they last met on American soil at the Cincinnati Open, 82 days ago.

Coco Gauff and Marta Kostyuk’s head-to-head record (4-2)

Coco Gauff and Marta Kostyuk’s head-to-head record

They will meet for a seventh time on Thursday, November 11. Gauff must win to stand a chance of advancing to the WTA Finals semis, where she could meet Russia’s Mirra Andreeva.

How did Coco Gauff win the 2024 WTA Finals?

Gauff won her first and, to date, only WTA Finals title in Saudi Arabia two years ago. Entering the competition as the third seed, behind Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, Gauff was placed in the ‘Purple Group’ with Swiatek, Jessica Pegula (later replaced by Daria Kasatkina), and Barbora Krejcikova.

She won her first two matches in Riyadh without dropping a set, beating Pegula and Swiatek, before losing her perfect record against Krejcikova. Gauff lost to the Czech star, 5-7, 4-6, but advanced to the semi-finals anyway.

There, she met the top seed, Sabalenka. Gauff was the underdog, but proved too strong for the Belarusian, winning in straight sets again, 7-6, 6-3, to set up a championship clash with China’s Qinwen Zheng.

Gauff and Zheng played out one of the matches of the year in the final, as momentum swung back and forth in the Middle East. Eventually, Gauff defeated Zheng, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6.

It’s going to be tough for Gauff to win her second WTA Finals title this year, but stranger things have happened… The 2026 WTA Finals championship match will be played on Sunday, November 15.

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