Cori Coco Gauff is pushing the boundaries of tennis again. She entered the main draw of the tournament in Linz as a “lucky loser” after losing in the last qualification round. A couple of days later, she celebrated her first career quarter-finals and entering the top 100 players in the world.
American tennis sensation has made it to the top eight after her rival Kateryna Kozlova forfeited the match in the third set due to an injury. The match was tied at one set each at that point, with Gauff leading in the decider 2:0.
By making into the quarter-finals, Gauff will also move up on the WTA list and join the top 100.
At 15 years and 214 days, Gauff will become the youngest player in the top 100 since 2005, when Sesil Karatancheva achieved this amazing feat.
Karatantcheva is now 30 years old and without any significant career results, mostly because she was suspended for two years in 2006 for using the forbidden substance Naloxone.
Gauff broke several other records this year. In July, she became the youngest player to win a match at Wimbledon since 1991, downing her idol Venus Williams. She made it all the way to the fourth round when Simona Halep ended her streak.
Gauff is undoubtedly tennis’s most dazzling talent in more than a decade. It seems that it’s only a matter of time before we see her fighting for Slams. But who knows, sports are unpredictable, and that’s what makes them so appealing and exciting to watch.
