Coco Gauff joins Maria Sharapova and 3 other other WTA players in remarkable stat
With her victory over Ann Li at the 2025 Madrid Masters, Coco Gauff became just the fifth player aged 21 or younger to reach 25+ rounds of 16 at WTA 1000/Tier one events.
The American looked far more comfortable against Li, claiming a 6-2, 6-3 victory to move into the third round of the event.
“I played better today,” Gauff said, on court.
“[I was] more comfortable and trying to be more aggressive but playing with margin.”
Gauff, in her statement, was referring to her first match where she had to battle back from a horrendous first set to edge out a 0-6, 6-2, 7-5 win against Dayana Yastremska.
The world No 4 joins Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, Caroline Wozniacki, and Svetlana Kuznetsova in reaching 25 or more WTA 100-/Tier one round 16 aged 21 or younger.
It was at the 2021 edition of the Dubai event that Gauff first appeared at such a stage, eventually losing to Jil Teichmann in the quarterfinals.
Belinda Bencic awaits as the former US Open champion’s next opponent at the Madrid Masters after the Swiss overcame Beatriz Haddad Maia in a third-set tiebreak.
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“I’m definitely someone who strives for perfection and it’s something that I’ve been working on,” said Gauff, ahead of the Madrid Masters tournament.
“And I think perfectionism is something that makes me good, but can also be a bit of a bad thing, too.
“So I think it’s just finding the balance and knowing that this is a long season, a long sport. And you’re not going to win every tournament. And I am someone that goes in believing that I can. So it is sometimes a letdown when I don’t. So I just try to take the positives from the losses, which is something I’ve been working on lately.
“I always thought I was the type of person who needed matches to bring confidence. And then a lot of my results just came out of nowhere with maybe not as many matches doing well.
“So, I started to believe that you can just turn it around any week. And just as quickly as you can go on a tear, you can also lose.
“I think it’s just one of those things that is just treating each tournament with a new perspective and a new mindset.”
