18-year old Coco Gauff has become the youngest woman to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament since Maria Sharapova did it at 17 years old in 2004. Gauff defeated unseeded Italian Martina Trevisan 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals of the 2022 French Open on Thursday.
Gauff also became the youngest American woman to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament since 17-year old Serena Williams achieved the feat at the 1999 US Open.
Gauff will also be playing in the first Grand Slam final of her career where she will be facing top-seeded Iga Swiatek on Saturday. Swiatek defeated No. 20 seed Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-1 to advance the French Open final.
"I think I'm in a bit of shock right now and I didn't know how to react at the end of the match," Gauff said following her semifinal victory. "I have no words to describe how I feel."
Despite being able to defeat Trevisan in two sets, the match was extremely close in the early going. There were break opportunities in eight of the nine games and Gauff did manage to win the final three games to secure that first set.
Having success in a Grand Slam tournament is certainly nothing new for Gauff. In 2019, Gauff reached the fourth round of Wimbledon at just 15 years old. Gauff also reached the fourth round of the 2019 and 2021 editions of Wimbledon in addition to the 2020 Australian Open, but never advanced past that.
Gauff has also had success in the women's doubles tournament at the French Open. The 18-year old and partner Jessica Pegula defeated Anna Bondar and Greet Minnen 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals of the French Open doubles tournament. History may be on Gauff's side on Saturday -- both Williams and Sharapova won those first Grand Slam finals as teenagers, and both of those victories came over the tournament's No. 1 seeds.
