Coco Gauff has continued her sensational run in Grand Slam competitions with ten consecutive wins and has written her name into the record books.
Gauff’s 10th successive Grand Slam victory came in the Australian Open third round after the 19-year-old thrashed her fellow compatriot Alycia Parks 6-0, 6-2. The win leaves Gauff without defeat since her opening match at last season’s US Open against Laura Siegemund on August 29, 2023.
Achieving such a feat at 19 years old is impressive since Gauff became the fourth US teenager to seal a 10-match winning streak at Grand Slams, following in the footsteps of Chris Evert, Tracy Austin, and Serena Williams, all of whom became world no. 1 players in their careers.
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However, the records do not stop there as Gauff also joined Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova, and Iga Swiatek as the fourth teenage WTA player of the 21st century to win ten straight Grand Slam matches.
Gauff has continued her sensational 2023 form into 2024 so far. The American player retained her title at the ASB Classic in early January and only dropped one set en route to victory.
She has since carried momentum into the Australian Open, securing convincing early-round wins against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Caroline Dolehide before defeating Parks in round three.
The electric early-season form continues from Gauff’s best-ever spell as a professional player. After a disappointing first-round exit at Wimbledon in June, the 19-year-old stormed back in the United States hard court season with title wins at the Citi Open in Washington, the Cincinnati Open, and the US Open.
Up next for Gauff at Melbourne Park will be Polish player Magdalena Frech. If Gauff wins, she will have reached her best-ever round at the Australian Open, having never progressed further than the fourth round in the season’s first Grand Slam tournament.
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Coco Gauff Assured To Improve In Rankings After Australian Open
Coco Gauff came into this year’s Australian Open ranked fourth in the WTA standings, which translated to her best seeding at the year’s first Grand Slam.
However, Gauff had dropped by a spot from her previous career-best ranking of 3rd, which she attained following her US Open success last year. Elena Rybakina won the first WTA 500 tournament of the new season in Brisbane, which meant she overtook Gauff.
The 19-year-old was powerless to stop the Kazakh despite a successful title defense in Auckland during the same week. But at the end of the first week of the Australian Open, Gauff is now assured of reclaiming 3rd spot ahead of Rybakina.
The American phenom has defended her points from last year’s Australian Open, where she reached the fourth round but lost to Jelena Ostapenko. Unfortunately for Rybakina, she was eliminated in the second round by Anna Blinkova in the biggest upset of the tournament so far.
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That means the big-serving Kazakhstani is set to drop 1,230 points after reaching the final last year and is now projected to drop as low as fifth following the conclusion of the tournament in Melbourne. Jessica Pegula, who also suffered a shock defeat too, will rise to fourth.
Gauff, however, takes the 3rd spot in the live rankings and cannot go lower than that even if she loses to Magdalena Frech of Poland on Sunday when the round of 16 matches begins. It is pertinent to note that third place is not her ceiling during the fortnight.
Gauff can still finish the month as the new World No. 2 ahead of Aryna Sabalenka. But for that to happen, she’ll need to better the Belarusian’s result at the Australian Open.
Sabalenka’s title defense is showing no signs of slowing so far, and Gauff could potentially need to take matters into her own hands. The pair are in the same half of the draw and could meet in the semifinal in what will be a rematch of last year’s US Open, and this time, the World No. 2 ranking will be at stake.
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