The American teenager stunned Australian Open defending champion and world no 3 Naomi Osaka in a straight-sets upset in the third round of the Australian Open at the Rod Laver Arena.
Coco Gauff got the biggest win of her career after beating seed Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-4 to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open and will play fellow American Sofia Kenin in the fourth round after the 21-year-old beat China's Shuai Zhang 7-5 7-6.
Their meeting at the same stage of the US Open in September had been an abrupt dousing of Gauffmania, with Osaka needing only 65 minutes to run out a 6-3, 6-0 winner. But today, the defending champion was undone by 30 unforced errors, while the American maintained a first-serve percentage of 75% as she turned the tables in 67 minutes.
Gauff, who also made the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, becomes the first player to reach two Grand Slam second weeks as a 15-year-old since Martina Hingis, who reached a US Open fourth round and semifinal, an Australian Open quarterfinal and a Wimbledon fourth round in 1995-96 before her 16th birthday.
Osaka, after being eliminated stated that "I love her, but I don't like this feeling of losing to her, You don't want to lose to a 15-year-old, you know. But I guess that's, for me, a reality check. It doesn't really matter the age of the opponent. Of course, she deserves to be here. She played her matches. I just have to work harder."
The former world champion added that both her technical execution and her mentality was not their today. "It was one of those days where I couldn't do anything right. My backhand, which is my more consistent side, every ball was flying. Even though I was telling myself, I know what to do in order for it to go in. And it just wasn't going in. I don't really have the champion mentality yet," she admitted. "Someone that can deal with not playing 100%, you know. And I have always wanted to be like that, but I guess I still have a long way to go." "Even before the tournament I think almost every player has a belief that they can win it," she mused about her uncommon levels of self-confidence. "Some stronger than others. I just always have the belief I can win regardless of my opponents."
In addition, teenage sensation Coco Gauff notches up her second career Top 10 win following her defeat of Kiki Bertens in the Linz quarterfinals in October.
