French Open: Coco Gauff reaches first Grand Slam quarter-final

PARIS (Agencies): 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 and has been widely tipped as a future major champion, beat the tricky Tunisian 6-3 6-1.
The 17-year-old, yet to drop a set at the tournament, won in just 53 minutes. “I am super happy to reach my first Grand Slam quarter-final. I played really well today,” Gauff said.
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.
Gauff will face Barbora Krejcikova in the next round after the Czech thrashed former finalist Sloane Stephens. Krejcikova overwhelmed the error-strewn American 6-2 6-0 in 70 minutes. Both Gauff and Krejcikova head into the quarter-finals on nine-match unbeaten runs and won titles in the build-up to the French Open.
Krejcikova, who won the Strasbourg Open in May, was dominant against world number 59 Stephens, saving all three break points she faced. A disappointed Stephens, who had impressed in the previous rounds, struggled for rhythm, finishing with 26 unforced errors to just nine winners.
Gauff won her second WTA title and her first on clay in Parma two weeks ago. She dropped just nine points on serve against 26th-ranked Jabeur, who was regarded as one of the more dangerous players in the draw.
How far can Gauff go?
As a 15-year-old, Gauff beat former champion Venus Williams in the first round at Wimbledon in 2019. 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. She has won two WTA titles – one on hard court, one on clay – and has reached the fourth round at three of the four majors.
Only world number one Ashleigh Barty, Aryna Sabalenka and Veronika Kudermetova have won more matches than Gauff in 2021. Gauff has also spoken passionately off-court about racial inequality and gave an emotional speech at a Black Lives Matter rally last year.