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Coco Gauff US Open 2022

Coco Gauff ‘super excited’ to make history as she books spot in WTA Finals


Coco Gauff and Caroline Garcia have confirmed their places at the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, leaving three spaces still up for grabs. 

Guadalajara second seed Aryna Sabalenka’s loss to Liudmila Samsonova assured the American and Frenchwoman of their qualification. Gauff and Garcia then both won their matches to advance to the third round of the WTA 1000 event.

“I’m just super excited,” Gauff said after the victory. “I wasn’t really thinking about it before the match, but I’m excited to join Jess (Pegula).”

The American is the youngest qualifier at the WTA Finals since Maria Sharapova in 2005. Gauff will be 18 years and 239 days old come the end of the tournament, while Sharapova was 18 and 208 days when she reached the semi-final 17 years ago.

Jessica Pegula qualified for Texas third behind Iga Swiatek and Ons Jabeur with her San Diego campaign last week. She and Coco Gauff qualified for the doubles too, meaning both will compete in both disciplines.

Moreover, Pegula ended the hopes of another potential qualifier in Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. She defeated the Kazakhstani 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10-8), saving three match points in the final tiebreak.

Sabalenka remains in contention to qualify for Fort Worth. Now she must rely on results from the draw after exiting Guadalajara. Sabalenka, Daria Kasatkina and Veronika Kudermetova occupy the last three spots at time of publication. Maria Sakkari, Madison Keys, Danielle Collins and Jelena Ostapenko are the remaining contenders.

 

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