Coco Gauff has only lost to a teenager twice at WTA-level and on both of those occasions the winner went on to claim the title.
The American world No.3 holds an impressive 19-2 win-loss record against teenage opposition, with Iga Swiatek (Rome 2021) and Victoria Mboko (Montreal 2025) being the only ones to have beaten her. Gauff’s latest victory was at the Canadian Open, where she beat 19-year-old Alina Korneeva 6-3, 6-1. Still only 22 herself, she is the only woman since 1990 to have reached 20 quarterfinals in hard-court Tier I/WTA-1000 events before their 23rd birthday.
As for the reason behind her dominant record against her younger peers, Gauff explains that the key is to never underestimate them. Something she felt others did to her when she was playing at their age.
“I feel like, sometimes I felt people on tour when I was younger took me for granted because of my age, and that’s how I was able to sneak a lot of wins sometimes,” Gauff told reporters. “So, because I had that experience, I know not to take their age for granted.
“They’re young, knowing that they’re not going to shy away from the spotlight or be nervous or anything like that. So I feel like, if anything, it makes me just stay on my toes even more.”
Despite her age, Gauff has already been playing on the Tour for more than six years. She made her WTA main draw debut at the 2019 Miami Open and during the same year reached the fourth round at Wimbledon. By the end of this year, she would have very likely played more than 400 WTA singles matches in her career. She has currently played 391, according to the WTA media notes.
“Since I started on Tour to now, I really feel the depth is stronger,” Gauff said of the current level of women’s tennis.
“I think it shows with all the stats. And now just the different slam winners almost every season.”
Gauff will next play Belinda Bencic, whom she leads 6-2 in their head-to-head.
