Another first for Coco Gauff as she upsets Kiki Bertens to reach Linz semi-final

WTA Tour
Coco Gauff

Coco Gauff continued her fairytale run at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz as she stunned top seed Kiki Bertens to reach her maiden WTA Tour semi-final.

After only making it into the main draw as a lucky loser, the 15-year-old secured her first-ever win over a top-10 player as she beat the world number eight 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 in one hour and 37 minutes.

There were no breaks of serve in the first set and Gauff eventually got the breakthrough via the tie-breaker. After saving two break points in the second game of the second set, the American broke in game three and never relinquished the lead.

She served it out to become the first 15-year-old to reach a semi-final at WTA Tour level since Nicole Vaidisova won the Tashkent title in 2004.

“There have been a lot of firsts this week,” Gauff said. “I’m really happy and proud of how I’m playing.

“Kiki was playing well and there was just a difference of one or two points.

“I’m glad I was able to come out on top. I’ve really gotten a lot of support from the crowd.”

Next up for Gauff, who will rise into the world top 100 next week, is Andrea Petkovic after the German beat Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova 6-4, 6-1.

The other semi-final will see eighth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova take on Jelana Ostapenko.

Russian Alexandrova beat Kristina Mladenovic from France 6-2, 6-4 while former French Open champion Ostapenko scored a 7-5, 6-1 win over Elena Rybakina from Kazhakstan.

Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @T365Official.

Coco Gauff Kik Bertens

Latest