WTA Rankings: The top five players under 21, ft. Coco Gauff

Ewan West 20 Oct 2023 12:59 PM

Coco Gauff plays a shot at the US Open

Players have often broken through and achieved success at a young age in women’s tennis and this trend has continued on the WTA Tour in recent years.

Bianca Andreescu, Iga Swiatek, Emma Raducanu and Coco Gauff have all won Grand Slam titles as teenagers since 2019, with three of these triumphs coming at the US Open.

The top 100 of the WTA Rankings features seven players under the age of 21, while there are 20 women in this age bracket in the top 200.

Here, we look at the top five players under 21 based on their current position in the WTA Rankings.

5. Ashlyn Krueger

Ashlyn Krueger, who turned 19 in May this year, is ranked 79th in the world having reached a career-high position of 73 in September. Krueger has had a fine 2023 season, accumulating $374,903 in prize money to date.

The American impressively won her maiden WTA title at the Japan Women’s Open 250 event last month without dropping a set, defeating Zhu Lin in the final. Krueger also won the Veneto Open grass-court WTA 125 event in June, overcoming former Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatjana Maria in three sets to take the title.

4. Diana Shnaider

Diana Shnaider is the current world No 72 after hitting a career-high ranking of 63 earlier this month, having celebrated her 19th birthday in April. The Russian broke into the top 100 for the first time in January and has continued to make strides this season, reaching the semi-finals of the WTA 250 event in Hamburg in July.

Shnaider then reached her first WTA final at the 250 tournament in Ningbo is September, notably earning a three-set upset win over world No 15 Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals. She then downed 18-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova in straight sets in the last four, before losing the final in straight sets to world No 7 Ons Jabeur.

3. Mirra Andreeva

Mirra Andreeva is by far the youngest player in the top 100 of the WTA Rankings, having only turned 16 in April this year. The teenage star is currently at her career-best ranking of 49 after a superb season where she holds a 36-9 record at all levels.

The Russian reached the fourth round of the WTA 1000 event in Madrid as a wildcard on her debut at this level after stunning Leylah Fernandez, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Magda Linette without losing a set. Andreeva then reached the last 16 of Wimbledon in just her second Grand Slam main draw appearance, with victories over Wang Xiyu, Barbora Krejcikova and Anastasia Potapova.

2. Linda Noskova

Linda Noskova, who will celebrate her 19th birthday in November, is the third-youngest top 100 WTA player and one of two 18-year-olds along with Fruhvirtova. She is ranked 42nd in the world, just below her highest position of 40, which she reached earlier this month.

The Czech holds a 33-20 record in 2023 and has achieved a number of milestones this season, including reaching her first WTA Tour finals. Noskova was beaten by Aryna Sabalenka in the Adelaide WTA 500 final in January and fell to Nao Hibino in the Prague Open WTA 250 title match in August. She has also landed three wins over players ranked in the top 10 at the time: Daria Kasatkina, Jabeur and Kvitova.

1. Coco Gauff

Coco Gauff, who turned 19 in March, is the highest-ranked player under 21 on the WTA Tour as she currently occupies a career-best spot of world No 3. Gauff defeated Sabalenka, who has since become world No 1, in the final of the 2023 US Open last month to secure her maiden major triumph.

The American has been on an outstanding run since her opening-round exit at Wimbledon in July, winning 22 of her last 24 matches. Gauff holds an excellent 49-14 season record and has claimed four WTA titles in 2023, having also triumphed in Auckland, Washington and Cincinnati.