Teen sensation Coco Gauff to continue dream Wimbledon run against Hercog
15 year old Coco Gauff will take on world number 60 Polona Hercog last on Centre Court today.
Playing for the first time at a Grand Slam, Coco Gauff has never met the Slovenian before who is appearing in the Wimbledon third round for a second time in her career.
Gauff has stolen headlines this week, after beating five time champion and idol Venus Williams 6-4 6-4 in round one. She then backed this groundbreaking win up with another straight sets victory over world number 139 Magdalena Rybarikova of Russia.
Gauff is the youngest player ever to qualify for Wimbledon. She received a wildcard into the qualifying draw, and en route beat qualifying number one seed and 94th ranked Bolsova to register her first win against a top 100 player. Born in 2004, the Atlanta girl was not even alive when her first round opponent Venus Williams won her first of four major titles.
Maria Sharapova is the youngest ever player to win a singles title at Wimbledon in 2004, when she was 17 year sold and 75 days. And after her two sensational main draw wins, Gauff has shot to the bookies’ sixth favourite to make history and break this record.
Hercog is looking to reach her first ever fourth round at a Slam. She has made three third round appearances, including one at Wimbledon in 2017 when she qualified and won her first two rounds beating Annika Beck and Varvara Lepchenko. She lost 6-4 6-0 in the third round to seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
In her 2019 campaign the Slovenian, who now resides in Italy, came from a set down in round one to beat Viktoria Kuzmova 4-6 7-6 7-5. In the second round she recorded her first win against a top 20 opponent for four years when she crushed 17th seed Madison Keys 6-2 6-4.
The winner of this match will set up a tough tie against either 2018 French Open champion and seventh seed Simona Halep, or two time Australian Open champion and Wimbledon semi-finalist Victoria Azarenka.
Polona Hercog (Slovenia)
Age: 28
WTA Ranking: 60
Wimbledon seeding: Unseeded
Career Wimbledon record: 6-8
Career Grand Slam record: 20-35
2019 win/loss: 14-11
Coco Gauff (USA)
Age: 15
WTA Ranking: 313
Wimbledon seeding: Unseeded
Career Wimbledon record: 2-0
Career Grand Slam record: 2-0
2019 win/loss: 3-1
Enjoy Wimbledon even more with our exclusive, 164 page, ‘Guide to Wimbledon 2019‘
To find out how to get tickets for Wimbledon this year read our 9 point guide here
For all the latest Wimbledon news before, during and after the tournament make sure you bookmark our ‘Wimbledon News’ section here
If you can’t visit the tournament then do the next best thing and read our guide on how to watch Wimbledon on television
To read more amazing articles like this you can explore Tennishead magazine here or you can subscribe for free to our email newsletter