Coco Gauff shares amused message as she accumulates yet another "age stat" after reaching Italian Open final

Coco Gauff became the youngest player to achieve the unique double of reaching the final of both the Madrid Open and the Italian Open in the same year. The 21-year old expressed her amusement at still breaking "age stats" at this point in her career.

After an indifferent first few months in the season, Gauff has come into her own in the clay season. She took the Madrid Open by storm, winning against the likes of Dayana Yastremska, Ann Li, Belinda Bencic, Mirra Andreeva, and defending champion Iga Swiatek to reach the final. In the summit clash, she fell short against top seed Aryna Sabalenka.

Gauff maintained the same form at the Italian Open, winning against the likes of Victoria Mboko, Magda Linette, and Emma Raducanu in the initial rounds. In a rematch from the Madrid Open, the American once again defeated Andreeva in the quarterfinal, before triumphing over Zheng Qinwen in the semifinal in a three-hour thirty-four-minute epic match.

Reaching both the clay-court WTA 1000 finals in the same year has made the 21-year-old Gauff became the youngest player to achieve the feat. She went ahead of Swiatek, who had won both the Madrid and Rome titles last year, by the age of 22.

Gauff shared the stat on her Instagram story, amused at herself breaking "age stats" at the age of 21.

"thought the age stats would retire at 21 lolll. but I'll take it haha" said Gauff (via Instagram)

Coco Gauff amused at herself for breaking age stats at the age of 21 (Source: Instagram)

Gauff will be up against home favorite Jasmine Paolini in the final on May 17 (Saturday).

Coco Gauff is looking to win her third WTA 1000 title of her career

The final against Jasmine Paolini in Rome will be Gauff's fourth final at the WTA 1000 level, and the American is looking for her third title at this level. Her first WTA 1000 title came at the 2023 Cincinnati Open, which she won by defeating Karolina Muchova in the final, becoming the youngest player to win in Cincinnati at the age of 19 years, 5 months.

Gauff's second title at the level came at the China Open last year. After facing disappointment at the US Open, where she failed to defend her title, the American bounced back in style in Beijing, winning against the likes of Clara Burel, Katie Boulter, Naomi Osaka, Yuliia Starodubtseva, and Paula Badosa to reach the final. For the second time, Gauff won against Muchova to win her second WTA 1000 title.

After her final loss against Sabalenka in Madrid, Gauff will be keen to win her first title of the season before the French Open. She is the odds-on favorite against Paolini and has a 2-1 head-to-head record against the Italian.

About the author

Sagnik, a Mass Communication and Journalism graduate, is a tennis journalist at Sportskeeda. Before finding his spot in the tennis writing team, he worked as a junior content specialist for academic content writing firms for a couple of years.

Before putting out any information in the public domain, Sagnik makes sure that every element of his content is well-researched and backed with credible data so that there is no misinterpretation of facts or quotes and ethical standards are maintained. To do so, Sagnik follows reputed websites like the Tennis Channel and Tennis TV, and renowned journalists on social media.

He is a fan of former player Roger Federer, and just like his favorite player, Sagnik likes to bring perfection to his write-ups by providing concise and on-point content. Speaking of the ‘GOAT’ debate, Sagnik believes that it is a bit unfair to compare the legends of the game from different eras who have played on different terms. But if he were to pick one, he’d go for Novak Djokovic based on his tally of 24 Grand Slam titles.

When not writing about tennis and technically analyzing the sport, which he believes are his 'forte', Sagnik indulges in reading books.

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Edited by Pratham K Sharma