Cori Gauff completes breakthrough season with doubles WTA crown
Cori Gauff has been the player to watch and talk about ever since the US Open 2017 when she reached the junior final at the age of 13! Super talented American that works in Florida had an incredible season in 2018 as well, competing as the youngest player in almost every draw she had entered and proving her quality again to achieve some impressive things that will take some beating from the players of her age in the future. Just after turning 14, Cor conquered Roland Garros junior crown, scored first pro wins and became ITF junior world no. 1 at the moment when her coevals were making the first steps on the junior circuit. Gauff completed the season with the Orange Bowl title, ending her junior career at the age of 14 and dreaming about entering the top-100 on the WTA list by the end of 2019, which looked like a mission impossible some 11 months ago.
Confident about her abilities and ready to work hard on various improvements of her already well-balanced game, Cori played in the first pro final in February and managed to pass the qualifying draw at Wimbledon, still ranked outside the top-300. At the All England Club, Cor defeated multiple Wimbledon champion Venus Williams and two other opponents to find herself in the top 16 as the youngest player in almost 30 years, gathering momentum and showing her best tennis at the US Open where Naomi Osaka defeated her in the third round. Making bigger and bigger movements on the list, the 15-year-old stood on the verge of the top-100 ahead of Linz and Luxembourg, entering the main draw in Austria as a lucky loser and going all the way to claim the title and become the youngest WTA champion since Nicole Vaidisova in 2004, earning enough points to find herself well-inside the top-100 and achieve the goal set at the beginning of the year.
In Luxembourg, Cori lost in the first round in singles but there was another title in her hands when she and Catherine McNally toppled three of the top-4 seeds and claimed already their second WTA crown after Washington in July. Forging perfect chemistry right from the very first match together, Cori and Catherine reached the third round at the US Open and the semi-final in Linz before going all the way in Luxembourg, ousting the 2nd seeds Kaitlyn Christian and Alexa Guarachi 6-2, 6-2 in the title match for the second WTA crown at such young age. The more experienced and better-ranked players grabbed a break in game three before Gauff landed a return winner to earn a break at love for her team in the next game, delivering another one at 3-2 for a complete comeback. The youngsters had the upper hand in those moments, closing the opening set with the third straight break in the eighth game and fending off two break chances at 1-1 in set number two on McNally's serve that kept them on the positive side of the scoreboard.
A smash winner from Gauff notched a break for the Americans in game four and Catherine pushed them 5-1 in front with a return winner two games later, looking good to seal the deal after a couple of minutes. Christian and Guarachi fended off three match points in the seventh game to pull one break back before Cori and Catherine broke them again for a 6-2 and another impressive week on the doubles court. Ranked in the top-80 in both singles and doubles at the age of 15 (!!), Cori is ready to chase even bigger goals in 2020, playing with no fear against anyone on the other side of the net after already adding some very impressive age records to her tally.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/32LJ0CT
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