Coco Gauff's ITF record broken by 14-year-old Brit who reached US Open girls' singles quarterfinals
Coco Gauff's record for being the youngest player to qualify for an ITF W100 tournament was broken by 14-year-old Brit Hannah Klugman.
Klugman entered the qualifiers of the Budgen W100 Shrewsbury and beat Aneta Laboutkova 6-2, 6-1 in the opening round before defeating Pemra Ozgen 6-4, 6-3 to book her place in the main draw.
Aged only 14 years, eight months and two days, the Brit became the youngest player to qualify for an ITF W100 tournament, surpassing Coco Gauff, who was 15 years, one month and 22 days old when she qualified for W100 Charleston in 2019. It was the same year she beat Venus Williams in the first round of the Wimbledon Championships.
Klugman booked her place in the second round in Shrewsbury by defeating Gina Feistel 6-3, 7-5 and will take on compatriot Lily Miyazaki next, who is currently ranked the World No. 163.
Earlier this year, the Brit also reached the quarterfinal in the US Open girls' singles tournament.
Coco Gauff has won 49 out of 63 matches so far in 2023
Coco Gauff has had an impressive 2023 season so far, winning 49 out of 63 matches with four titles to her name. The first of these came at the ASB Classic in Auckland, where she did not drop a single set.
Gauff was particularly impressive during the American hardcourt season, winning her second title of 2023 at the Citi Open without losing a single set. After losing in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open, she clinched her maiden WTA 1000 title at the Western & Southern Open by beating Karolina Muchova.
The teenager then won her first Grand Slam title at the US Open by defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the final. Gauff's triumph saw her reach a new career-high singles ranking of World No. 3.
She then competed at the China Open and reached the semifinal before losing to eventual champion Iga Swiatek. Gauff was scheduled to compete at the Zhengzhou Open as well, but withdrew from the tournament due to a shoulder injury.
The American will next compete in the WTA Finals in Cancun as the third seed. It will be her second appearance at the year-end championships. She endured a disappointing round-robin exit at last year's edition as she lost all of her group matches.
Coco Gauff will also compete in the women's doubles event in Cancun with Jessica Pegula as her partner and they are the top seeds.