The rapid rise of Coco Gauff in 2019 has hit another massive milestone as the American teenage sensation won her first WTA singles title at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz, outlasting former Top 5 player Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, in the championship match on Sunday.
It is a stunning conclusion to an already noteworthy week for Gauff, who went from losing in the final round of qualifying to entering the main draw as a lucky loser and claiming her first-ever Top 10 win over Kiki Bertens in her maiden WTA quarterfinal.
The young American went on to reach her first tour-level semifinal and final before her 99-minute win over Ostapenko gave her the trophy. Already guaranteed to make her Top 100 debut after her first couple of wins this week, Gauff is projected to rise inside the Top 75 in the WTA rankings on Monday.
15-year-old Gauff, who started the season ranked well outside the Top 600, becomes the youngest WTA singles titlist since Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic picked up titles at Vancouver and Tashkent by the age of 15 years, 5 months in 2004.
Source: ATP