Coco Gauff has claimed she feels old playing her last Grand Slam as a teenager as her next opponent Marta Kostyuk claimed 18-year-old Emma Raducanu got lucky winning her US Open title.
The current New York champion became an overnight star at Wimbledon aged 15 in 2019. And Gauff, who turns 20 in March, became the youngest player to reach last eight her since 2008 by beating Poland’s Magdalena Frech 6-1 6-2 in only 66 minutes.
“Hopefully I can keep going for more,” she said. By reaching the fourth round, Gauff overtook the record she had shared with Serena Williams to become the first American teenager to reach the last 16 here three times.
“I definitely do forget my age a lot,” she admitted. “Honestly, this morning I saw a post that it was three fourth rounds, first teenager. Sometimes I forget.
“I know I’m not going to be a teenager anymore, but I just feel like I’ve lived so many lives the last four years, that I just feel older than 19. I remember like when I’m looking at the other girls on tour who are 16, and now coming up, 16, 17, like they just feel so young and I just feel so old. I know I’m not that old.”
Her next foe Marta Kostyuk reached the third round here aged 15 in 2018. The Ukrainian is now through to her first Grand Slam quarter-final after beating Russian qualifier Maria Timofeeva 6-2 6-1.
And world No.37 Kostyuk said: “Every Slam and every tournament is so unique and so different. Someone can have a very easy draw, and someone can have extremely difficult.
“I have an easiest example of when Leylah and Emma were playing the final, what draw Leylah had and what draw Emma had. Emma, no offence, but Leylah was really fighting for her life every single match.
“We will see. Maybe I will sit here in one week and be like: ‘Oh, you know, it was not that bad. It was actually easy’. We will see.”