The 15-year-old American Cori Gauff defeated the Latvian ex-French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6: 3, 1: 6, 6: 2 in the final of the tournament in Linz, thereby securing her first WTA title. In the ranking, the US teenager climbs from 106th to 71st place and is in the top 100 for the first time.
@CocoGauff is your @WTALinz champion!
The 15-year-old defeats Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 to claim her first WTA title! pic.twitter.com/i8ArqH6RnG
Gauff prevailed in the first set but clearly with 6: 3, but quarreled with their game and had to give up their service match in the second round three times. In the third sentence, the balance of power changed again: Gauff went 5-0 in the lead. But the 15-year-old was nervous before her first WTA win and allowed Ostapenko to reach 2-5 - before she made the sensation perfect after a game time of one hour and 39 minutes with her third match point. With her victory she receives a prize money of $ 43,000 (about 39,000 euros).
From lucky loser to Linz champion @ CocoGauff | #TeamUSATennis pic.twitter.com/Oriq0U2hdn
- USTA (@usta) October 13, 2019Gauff, who made it to the Wimbledon Round of 16 and the third US Open Round this year, is the youngest Tour winner since Nicole Vaidisova 15 years ago in Tashkent.
In Linz, she had actually disappointingly lost in the second qualifying round, but she slipped because of an injury of Maria Sakkari still as a lucky loser in the main draw.