17 Years After Teen Maria Sharapova Entered Tennis’ History Books, Coco Gauff Accompanies the Lone Russian With a Thumping French Open Record

This year in Paris, Coco Gauff has been on fire. She is quickly making the Parisian clay one of her favorite hunting grounds. The American starlet has made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the French Open for the third year in a row. And by making it to the quarter-finals, she has secured an incredible record that was set 17 years ago.

The world number 6, after defeating Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in the third round, is all set to play the quarter-finals. She will face the world number one, Iga Swiatek, in the next round, a daunting task as Gauff has an awful record against the Polish sensation. 

19-year-old Coco Gauff joins Maria Sharapova in creating a unique record 

The American teenage sensation has stormed into her third consecutive French Open quarter-final. By doing so, she became the youngest tennis player since 2006 to reach three successive Grand Slam quarter-finals. Earlier, this record was held by the Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova. She reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for three consecutive years between 2004 to 2006. 

Sharapova was essentially 17, 18, and 19 years old when she made three straight quarterfinal appearances at Wimbledon. In addition, the Russian tennis player won the Grand Slam championship in 2004.

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Coco Gauff’s best performance, on the other hand, came when she advanced to the Roland Garros final the previous year. Additionally, she was eliminated from the quarterfinals in 2021 by the eventual champion, Barbora Krejčíková.

Not only that last year, during the French Open, she also broke a record when she made it to the clay court tournament’s final. 

When Gauff equaled a similar Sharapova record last year 

The world’s sixth-ranked tennis player came very close to winning her first Grand Slam championship last year. Despite losing to the all-conquering Iga Swiatek, she set a record that had been set by Sharapova when she was a teenager. Gauff became the youngest major finalist since the Russian tennis legend in 2004. Sharapova was only 17 when she beat Serena Williams to win the Wimbledon Championships that year.

Gauff become only the second individual to join Sharapova as the youngest major finalist in the history of tennis. Along with this incredible record, the American teenage sensation also became the youngest finalist at the French Open since Kim Clijsters in 2001.

Will Gauff break more records at the ongoing French Open? Will this be her first Grand Slam title?

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