Gauff mows top seed at Wimbledon qualies

On a day when nine American women advanced at Wimbledon qualifying, 15-year-old Coco Gauff scored the result of the day, mowing down the top seed on the London grass.

Her 6-3, 6-4 upset of Spain’s Aliona Bolsova is her first WTA Top-100 win, and comes one month after she became the youngest woman to win a French Open qualifying match. Bolsova, the WTA No. 94, reached the Round of 16 at Roland Garros.

“My coaches told me to enjoy it,” Gauff told The Wimbledon Channel, explaining her calmness on the court. “I’m 15, I’m playing Wimbledon… what more could you ask for? I didn’t really feel any nerves the whole time.”

The qualifying tournament is being played at London’s Bank of England Sports Centre, where Gauff won the Roehampton ITF Grade 1 junior event last July. 

“Everyone keeps saying I’m undefeated here,” she said with a laugh, “so I hope I can keep that streak going.”

Video from The Wimbledon YouTube Channel. Story continues below.

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At the professional level, Gauff picked up her first WTA win as a wild card at the Miami Open, where she defeated 17-year-old Caty McNally in the opening round. Last summer, after facing off in the French Open girls' singles final, the young Americans teamed up to win the US Open girls' doubles title. McNally also won on Tuesday's Day 2 of Wimbledon qualifying.

Other advancing Americans included the No. 3-seeded Lauren Davis, No. 6 Christina McHale and No. 15 Varvara Lepchenko. Among the seeded victors, both Davis and Lepchenko were pushed to three sets. Davis recovered from a one-sided opener to top Bibiane Schoofs of the Netherlands, 1-6, 7-6, 6-4, while Lepchenko dominated late in a 7-6, 2-6, 6-0 decision over Sofya Zhuk of Russia.

Caroline Dolehide booked her spot in Wednesday’s second round with a three-set victory of her own, beating Romanian Alexandra Cadantu, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. McNally, Francesca Di Lorenzo and Kristie Ahn all progressed with matching 7-6, 7-6 victories, while Danielle Lao dismissed Britain’s Naiktha Bains, 6-4, 6-2.

Day 3 of the qualifying event brings up Round 2 in both the men’s and women’s draws. All told, Team USA will have 16 players in action, with seven men joining the nine winning women from Tuesday’s play. Full men’s and women’s qualifying draws and results can be found on the Wimbledon website.