Coco Gauff equals Serena Williams' tally of Grand Slam quarterfinals as a teenager in 21st century with Australian Open run, trails Maria Sharapova
2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff has joined an elite company of tennis players by reaching the quarter-finals of the ongoing Australian Open. Gauff has equaled tennis great Serena Williams and Belgian tennis star Kim Clijsters' tally of getting into most quarter-finals in Grand Slams as a teenager in the 21st Century.
Serena, Clijsters, and Gauff have made six appearances each in the quarter-finals of Grand Slam tournaments as teenagers in 2000s. Gauff now trails only Maria Sharapova, who has 10 to her name, on that list.
Gauff has now won 11 consecutive matches at Grand Slam tournaments, joining an elite list of players on the WTA Tour. She became only the fourth teenager in the 21st century to notch at least 10 singles wins at the Majors after her third-round win.
Sharapova made a majestic entry into tennis after winning her maiden Grand Slam title at Wimbledon 2004. The Russian followed it up with a triumph at the US Open in 2006 and a runner-up finish at the Australian Open in 2007, when she was aged just 19.
Gauff, meanwhile, has been on a roll in Melbourne this week. The World No. 3 opened her Australian Open campaign with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. She beat fellow countrywomen Caroline Dolehide 7-6(2), 6-2 and Alycia Parks 6-0, 6-2 in the second and third rounds, respectively.
The American then won against Poland's Magdalena Frech 6-1, 6-2 in the fourth round to enter the Australian Open quarter-finals for the first time in her career. She has won nine consecutive matches since the start of her title run at Auckland, which serves as a warm-up to the Australian Open, and is undefeated in 2024.
Coco Gauff to face Marta Kostyuk in Australian Oopen 2024 quarter-finals
Coco Gauff will face Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the quarter-finals on Tuesday. Kostyuk made it to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time by beating Maria Timofeeva 6-2, 6-1 in the Round of 16.
Gauff has won her only encounter with Kostyuk in the second round of the Adelaide International in three sets in 2022. The former hasn't even faced a single break point in her last two matches at the 'Happy Slam'.
The teenager has altered her serve a bit thanks to some help from former US Open champion Andy Roddick. She is on course for a potential clash against the reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.
Incidentally, Gauff defeated defending champion Naomi Osaka in the third round of the Australian Open in 2020, becoming the youngest player to defeat a top-five player since Jennifer Capriati beat Gabriela Sabatini at the US Open in 1991.