15-Year-Old Coco Gauff Gets U.S. Open Wild-Card Entry
WASHIBGTON (AP) - Coco Gauff will get a chance to try for an encore: The 15-year-old from Florida received a wild-card entry Tuesday for the U.S. Open's main draw.
It will be Gauff's second Grand Slam tournament. She made a magical run to the fourth round at Wimbledon last month after getting a wild card into the qualifying rounds there.
Ranked just 313th at the time, Gauff became the youngest player to qualify for Wimbledon, upset five-time champion Venus Williams in the first round and wound up losing at the All England Club to eventual title winner Simona Halep.
Gauff is currently No. 140 in the WTA rankings. She initially made a mark at age 13 by becoming the youngest U.S. Open junior finalist in history; she won the French Open junior title at 14.
And also, Williams withdrew before her second-round match, Venus Williams reached the third round of the Western & Southern Open with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4) upset of defending champion Kiki Bertens. Her key? Not going for it.
"I just tried not to go too big, because I can go so big and I have a lot of power and it's not always easy to control it," the 39-year-old Williams said. "So I'm trying to play smart instead of going hog wild, which is extremely easy to do."
Hours before her match was scheduled to begin, Serena Williams withdrew, citing the same back injury that forced her to retire from the Rogers Cup final on Sunday in Toronto. The injury raises questions about Serena's fitness ahead of the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 26.
*****Coco Gauff
It will be Gauff's second Grand Slam tournament. She made a magical run to the fourth round at Wimbledon last month after getting a wild card into the qualifying rounds there.
Ranked just 313th at the time, Gauff became the youngest player to qualify for Wimbledon, upset five-time champion Venus Williams in the first round and wound up losing at the All England Club to eventual title winner Simona Halep.
Gauff is currently No. 140 in the WTA rankings. She initially made a mark at age 13 by becoming the youngest U.S. Open junior finalist in history; she won the French Open junior title at 14.
And also, Williams withdrew before her second-round match, Venus Williams reached the third round of the Western & Southern Open with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4) upset of defending champion Kiki Bertens. Her key? Not going for it.
"I just tried not to go too big, because I can go so big and I have a lot of power and it's not always easy to control it," the 39-year-old Williams said. "So I'm trying to play smart instead of going hog wild, which is extremely easy to do."
Hours before her match was scheduled to begin, Serena Williams withdrew, citing the same back injury that forced her to retire from the Rogers Cup final on Sunday in Toronto. The injury raises questions about Serena's fitness ahead of the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 26.
*****Coco Gauff