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The 14-year-old sensation Cori Gauff has already made a name for herself in the last 15 months, reaching the US Open junior final at the age of 13 in 2017 and winning the Roland Garros crown this June as the fourth-youngest champion behind Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati and Gabriela Sabatini, competing at only ninth ITF junior event in a career. Cori won the title in Roehampton as well and she became world number 1 in July at such a young age, achieving another milestone and continuing with good results after reaching the quarters at Wimbledon, US Open and Mundial Juvenil Yucatan.
In the meanwhile, Cori scored two professional wins as the first player born in 2004, entering the WTA list and pushing the limits as by far the youngest player in the world with WTA points. Super talented American that lives and trains in Florida will wrap up her season at the Frank Veltri Tennis Center at Plantation, entering the famous Orange Bowl as the top seed and scoring five straight sets wins to reach the final as one of the youngest players in the title match of what has been known as the fifth Major.
Gauff kicked off the event with a powerful 6-1 6-2 win over Diana Khodan and she entered the last 16 with a 6-0 7-5 triumph over Fiona Crawley. Ana Geller stood no chance against Cori as well and she toppled Helene Pellicano 6-3 6-2 to secure the place in the semis.
A few weeks ago, Diane Parry ousted Cori in the quarters of the Mundial Juvenil Yucatan but she was demolished by the American in the semis of Orange Bowl on Saturday, with Gauff scoring a perfect 6-0 6-0 win to enter her second final of this event. Back in 2014 and 2015, Cori was the semi-finalist at the U12 level before winning the title in 2016 and moving to the U18 level last season.
The 16-year-old and the 2nd seed Qinwen Zheng stands between Cor and the title, defeating Emma Navarro 6-0 6-4 to set another title match after winning Eddie Herr last week. Zheng is a former finalist here, losing to Alexa Noel at the U14 level in 2016 and she will now try to go all the way against the toughest possible rival. Semi-final results:
[1]Cori Gauff (USA) vs [3]Diane Parry 6-0 6-0 |
[2]Qinwen Zheng (CHN) vs Emma Navarro (USA) 6-0 6-4 |