After beating 7-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in the first round of this year’s Australian Open, Coco Gauff notched an even bigger win on Friday by stunning defending champion Naomi Osaka to advance to the round of last 16.
The 15-year-old from Delray Beach, Florida beat Osaka 6-3 6-4 in what was only the second biggest upset of the day after Chinese Qiang Wang had ended Serena Williams’ hopes of finally winning her first Grand Slam as a mother after giving birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia in 2017.
Coco Gauff, considered the heir apparent to Serena Williams by many, is now four wins away from becoming the youngest Grand Slam champion in the Open Era, which began in 1968 when professional players were allowed to compete in Grand Slam tournaments. At the day of the women’s final, Gauff will be 15 years and 325 days old, or roughly five months younger than Martina Hingis was when she won her maiden Grand Slam title at the 1997 Australian Open.
As our chart illustrates, the four youngest Grand Slam champions in history are all female, with American Michael Chang the youngest male player ever to lift one of Tennis’ biggest trophies aged 17 years and 110 days.
