Coco Gauff avoids 2 match points in third round win
WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND — It was easy to forget that Coco Gauff is still just 15 as she stood on the grass of Centre Court, pounding her chest and shouting, “Let’s go! Come on!” to celebrate a 32stroke point that forced a third set in her match Friday evening at Wimbledon.
Up in the stands, her mom rose to yell, “Yes!” Thousands of spectators jumped out of their seats, too, roaring. By then, Gauff already twice had been a point from losing in the third round to Polona Hercog of Slovenia.
Most players, no matter the age, would not be able to find a path past that kind of a deficit on this imposing a stage, would not be able to handle that sort of stress and figure out a way. Gauff is, quite clearly, not most players. That much has been established. How far can she go, both this fortnight and in the future? The tennis world is watching, waiting to learn the answers.
That Gauff, ranked 313th and facing another unseeded player, was scheduled to appear at Wimbledon’s main stadium says plenty about what a sensation the Floridian already is. That she won this one, and how she did — erasing a pair of match points and coming back to beat the 28year-old Hercog 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 — offers some insight into what Gauff might become.
“Right now, I’m just super relieved that it’s over,” Gauff said. “I always knew that I could come back, no matter what the score is.”
As it is, Gauff was the youngest player to qualify for Wimbledon in the professional era, winning three matches last week against higher-ranked women in the preliminary rounds.
Then, by upsetting five-time champion Venus Williams, who is 39, in the first round, Gauff became the youngest woman to win a match at the All England Club since 1991, when Jennifer Capriati reached the semis at 15.
That was followed by a win against 2017 Wimbledon semifinalist Magdalena Rybarikova.
Next up: A fourth-round matchup against 2018 French Open champion and former No. 1 Simona Halep.