| Gauff, the youngest player to reach the Wimbledon women’s singles main draw via qualifying and the youngest to win a round |
American 15-year-old Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff showed her stunning first-round defeat of Venus Williams was no flash in the pan as she outclassed Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3 6-3 to reach the third round of Wimbledon on Wednesday.
Gauff, the youngest player to reach the Wimbledon women’s singles main draw via qualifying and the youngest to win a round since 1991, gave the 30-year-old former semi-finalist a torrid time as her fairytale debut continued under the Court One roof.
Gliding effortlessly across the grass she took charge of the match by breaking her 139th-ranked Slovakian’s serve to love in the sixth game and was in control thereafter.
Rybarikova, a semi-finalist in 2017, might have hoped for Gauff’s level to dip but it never looked likely as the teenager remained ice cool and composed to close in on victory. Gauff even spared herself the extra nervous energy of having to serve for victory as she broke Rybarikova to seal victory when the Slovakian sliced a backhand into the net.
REUTERS