After becoming the most attractive player at this year’s Wimbledon by stunning five-time champion Venus Williams in the first round, American Cori “Coco” Gauff continued to back up her powerful game with ultimate poise, easing past Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova into the third round.
The former Top 20 player Rybarikova may be ranked 139th at the moment, but she turned pro when Gauff was a one-year-old baby and her best career Grand Slam result happened at the lawns of Wimbledon in 2017 when she reached the semifinals. Big stages and opponent’s grandeur can’t intimidate the world No.313 Gauff, though, as she simply goes by her “just wing it” motto and claims one victim after another.
In Wednesday’s second-round match under the closed roof of No.1 Court, Gauff kept a poker face as she kept dismantling Rybarikova’s game, crushing the veteran 6-3 6-3 without facing a break point. Gauff fired powerful and precise winners, chased down drop shots, and conventionality finished the job on her first match point.
In the first set, Gauff, who entered Wimbledon qualifying by virtue of a wildcard, recorded the first break of the match at love, after just 20 minutes of play, and never looked back. In the second set, the spectacular 15-year-old broke her opponent’s serve in the third game and again never let the lead go away.
In the third round, Gauff will face unseeded Slovenian Polona Hercog, who upset American seed No.17 Madison Keys 6-2 6-4 a little bit earlier on Wednesday.
Coco’s the whole package. Beautiful inside & out, humble, confident, focused, fearless, super intelligent, well-mannered, Godly, gifted & talented; love her close knit family and relationship with parents. The future’s bright for this young tennis phenom. I’m coo-coo for Coco and so are many others. I wouldn’t be surprised if she took the title. She’s definitely got the tennis weapons and mental fortitude to do so. Her shot making skills are simply amazing! She’s well beyond her years in age intellectually. She’s making history all over the place, and the best is yet to come. Endorsements and dollars galore! Now Patrick Moratoglou & Roger Fed’s agent on board. Those powerhouses know a star when they see one. “Congrats, Coco! Keep it going, champ!”
Would somebody please encourage, persuade, tell Maddie Keys to hire Sascha ASAP!!!! I want to see her win a major so bad, it’s breaking my heart!
The Real Deal, what’s most amazing about Coco is that she really is a complete package. Her game is spot-on, her on-court character is rock solid, and when she does interviews she seems so mature and pleasant to listen. We can all learn a thing or two from this 15-year-old!