British teenager Hannah Klugman became the youngest player to qualify for a W100 tournament on the ITF Tour before going on to win her first-round match in Shrewsbury.
In just her fourth professional singles appearance, the 14-year-old defeated Czech Aneta Laboutkova 6-2 6-1 in her opening qualifying match at the W100 Shrewsbury, before seeing off veteran Turkish player Pemra Ozgen 6-4 6-3 to reach the main draw where she defeated fellow qualifier Gina Feistel – the world No 622 – 6-3 7-5 in the first round.
Her run betters the record of reigning US Open women’s singles champion Coco Gauff, who was the previous youngest player to qualify for a W100 tournament.
Gauff went on to reach the quarter-finals at W100 Charleston aged just 15 in 2019.
At 14 years, eight months and four days, rising-star Klugman is the third-youngest player to feature in the main draw of an ITF W100 tournament overall, with Radina Dimitrova (14 years, three months and six days) and Viktoriya Tomova (14 years, six months, 26 days) awarded wild cards at W100 Sofia in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
Klugman will next play in the second round of the women’s singles against fellow British player Lily Miyazaki – the British No 5 and world No 163.
Watch highlights of Klugman against Sayaka Ishii in the junior tournament of the US Open
Klugman now has a 5-3 win-loss record on the ITF World Tennis Tour, having also reached the quarter-finals on her professional debut at W25 Nottingham in April.
She reached the quarter-finals of the US Open Junior Championship girls’ singles earlier this summer, having also teamed up with Isabelle Lacy to progress to the girls’ doubles final at Junior Wimbledon.
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