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A new and exciting addition to the grass-court swing will be included in the WTA Tour this season. The new grass-court tournament, bett1 Open will be held in Berlin, Germany, and will fall under the WTA Premier Mandatory category. Cori Gauff has confirmed she will participate in the inaugural edition of the tournament.

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The bett1 Open Championship event is a welcome addition to the grass-court swing of the tennis season. Players and fans alike have often bemoaned the shortage of grass-court events during the build-up to Wimbledon.

What makes it even more significant is that it is a WTA Premier event, meaning it will offer the champion of the event a cool 1000 WTA points.

Cori Gauff excited to play in Berlin

Cori Gauff will play in the event in Berlin, which is a very big positive for the opening edition of the event. Gauff has risen through the ranks meteorically and is already a fan-favorite given her exploits.

The American, aged just 15, has a career-hig rank of No. 49. Currently ranked World No. 51, Gauff boasts of huge victories against many big names on the WTA Tour already.

She first caught everyone’s attention when she came up against Venus Williams in the first round of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships. Gauff defeated her idol in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. She repeated the feat at this year’s Australian Open as well, beating Venus 7-6(5), 6-3.

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via Imago

The teen prodigy has already proven she is a real talent and not a one-off wonder. The 15-year-old had a very good run at the first Major of the year. She reached the Round of 16, beating Naomi Osaka en route.

She lost to the eventual champion and her compatriot, Sofia Kenin. However, Coco put up a valiant fight, losing 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-0.

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The bett1 Open will take place between 13 to 21 June, and will play a significant part in the players’ preparations for the Wimbledon Championships. While the WTA Premier will certainly feature top names from women’s tennis, Cori Gauff will attract her share of the fans too.

Joining Cori in Berlin are other big names like Angelique Kerber, Julia Goerges, both from Germany, and also the Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.