Teenage Tennis Phenom Advances in Australian Open

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Coco Gauff, the 15 year old tennis phenom, has taken the tennis world by storm this past year, beating some of the biggest names, such as seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams.

Gauff is currently competing at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia. After beating Williams in her first round and Sorana Cirstea, from Romania, in the second, Gauff is now headed even further towards the trophy; yesterday (Jan. 24), she beat last year’s champion, 22-year-old Naomi Osaka, who entered the match ranked number three in the world. Gauff won 6-3, 6-4.

Born in Delray Beach, Florida, Gauff grew up with athletic parents, and experimented with a lot of sports before landing on tennis. She took inspiration from the famous Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, and at the age of 13 began playing on the ITF Junior Circuit. In her fourth tournament she finished runner up at the Junior U.S. Open, becoming the youngest finalist ever. She ascended to the title of the Number One Junior in the world when she won the Singles Junior French Open in 2018, at the age of just 14.

Gauff made her World Tennis debut in March of 2019, winning her first round singles match of the Miami Open. After this, she would receive a wildcard into the qualifying draw at Wimbledon, where she would become the youngest player ever to qualify for the main draw of the prestigious tournament.

At Wimbledon, she would make it all the way to the fourth round. Following Wimbledon, she would compete in the U.S. Open, in which she reached the third round. Each of her matches at Wimbledon were the most watched matches in the United States.

With her success over her first 20 singles matches, Gauff has become the youngest player in history to be ranked inside the top 100 in the world, coming in at 67, with a record of 39 wins and 20 losses.

Gauff’s next match will be against fellow American Sofia Kenin, who is ranked number 14 in the world.

UPDATE: Guaff lost to Kenin on Jan. 25.