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PARIS. — Teenager Coco Gauff reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final as she dominated Ons Jabeur at the French Open.
The American, who won the 2018 junior title here, beat the tricky Tunisian 6-3 6-1.
Greece’s Maria Sakkari, joined her as a first-time quarter-finalist after knocking out last year’s runner-up and fourth seed Sofia Kenin 6-1 6-3.
It leaves eighth seed Iga Swiatek as the highest ranked woman left.
Sakkari, 25, leapt out to a 4-0 lead over Kenin and although the 22-year-old American rallied to get one of the breaks back, the Greek broke once more before clinching the first set, serving to love.
Kenin rallied at 1-5 down, saving a match point, and then breaking a nervous Sakkari, who made no mistake with her second match point.
Gauff ‘super happy’ to reach first major quarter-final
Gauff, 17, widely tipped as a future major champion, beat Jabeur in just 53 minutes and has yet to drop a set at the tournament.
“I am super happy to reach my first Grand Slam quarter-final. I played really well today,” said the American, who dropped just nine points on serve against 26th-ranked Jabeur.
At 17 years and 86 days old, Gauff is the youngest woman to reach the last eight of a Slam in the singles since Nicole Vaidisova, who was 17 years and 44 days old when she played in the French Open quarter-finals in 2006.
She stormed into the spotlight two years ago when, as a 15-year-old, she beat former champion Venus Williams in the first round at Wimbledon.
Following that victory, and a breakthrough run where she reached the fourth round, Gauff was described as a “champion in the making” by former players. She has since has risen to a career high of 25 in the world and beat defending champion Naomi Osaka in the third round of the Australian Open last year. — BBC Sport.
Online Reporter