Young British star has 'amazing feeling' after replicating Coco Gauff

December 11, 2023

British Tennis Players, Tennis News, Tennis Tournaments, WTA Tennis Players

Young British star has ‘amazing feeling’ after following in the footsteps of Coco Gauff

Hannah Klugman has become the first British player to win the prestigious Orange Bowl title, joining the likes of Chris Evert, Coco Gauff and Caroline Wozniacki.

Klugman, who is only 14-years-old, has had another breakout season after reaching the quarter-finals of the junior US Open and becoming runner-up in the girls doubles at Wimbledon alongside Isabelle Lacy.

More recently, the junior No.9 became the youngest player to qualify for an ITF W100 event in Shrewsbury, breaking a record previously held by Gauff, and went onto reach the quarter-final.

Hannah Klugman is your women's singles Player of the Month for October ?

She became the youngest player to ever qualify for a W100 event in Shrewsbury, and then made the quarter-finals!

Voted on exclusively by Advantage members ?

— LTA (@the_LTA) November 14, 2023

And now Klugman has joined an illustrious list of players to win the Orange Bowl title, which is a 76-year-old ITF Junior Grade A tournament, that features the best players aged 18 and under in Florida, USA.

Having knocked out top and fourth seeds Laura Samsonova and Iva Jovic, respectively, Klugman found herself in the final against American Tyra Caterina Grant.

Klugman beat the home favourite, 6-3 6-3, to join a list of incredible names and spoke about how it felt after the match, specifically mentioning the aforementioned Gauff.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said the Brit. “I played 14’s last year and made the final. I was really gutted I didn’t get the win, and obviously, to get the win at under-18’s, it’s incredible.

“This is still just part of the journey – a little step – but it’s nice. I was walking past the poster with all the great players [who have won]. I saw Coco Gauff. It’s good that I can be on that board. It doesn’t mean anything in the big picture, but hopefully I can make it.”

14 year old Hannah Klugman wins the prestigious Orange Bowl in Florida, the first British player ever to win the main girls’ Orange Bowl title. What a way to end 2023 on a high and well done to her team on a fantastic year @lauradeigman93 @Reeds_Tennis ??? #tennis #winning pic.twitter.com/pRc3Z1N02n

— Tennis First (@TennisFirst) December 10, 2023

Inside the baseline…

Anyone who has been following the British tennis scene over the past couple of years will have heard about Hannah Klugman, who has been a vast rising talent at such a young age. Having lost the final of the under-14 tournament last year, it shows huge strength to come to the higher age group the following year and go all the way.

The Past 10 Girls Orange Bowl winners

With Klugman the latest name on the list, we at Tennishead wanted to lookback on the past 10 years of the tournament, that features three senior Grand Slam singles champions:

Year	Girls 18-and-under winner
2014	Sofia Kenin (USA)
2015	Bianca Andreescu (Canada)
2016	Kaja Juvan (Slovenia)
2017	Whitney Osuigwe (USA)
2018	Coco Gauff (USA)
2019	Robin Montgomery (USA)
2020	Ashlyn Krueger (USA)
2021	Petra Marcinko (Croatia)
2022	Mayu Crossley (Japan)
2023	Hannah Klugman (Great Britain)