Stat of the Year, No. 5: Coco Gauff’s Herculean feat against the Top 2 at the WTA Finals

Beating the Top 2 players in the world at the same tournament is already rare, but what about doing it before you even turn 21?

That’s exactly what a 20-year-old Coco Gauff did at the WTA Finals in Riyadh a few weeks ago, and it turns out that it’s very rare—in fact she was the youngest woman to achieve the Herculean feat since she herself was just two years old.

It all began in the round-robin stage when she took out the world No. 2, Iga Swiatek, 6-3, 6-4. That flipped the script on Coco’s toughest head-to-head match-up on the tour—it was just her second win in 13 career meetings against the Pole.

Then, in the semifinals, Coco beat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, 7-6 (4), 6-3. That’s been a more even head-to-head, but given Sabalenka’s form—she recently won huge hard-court titles in Cincinnati, the US Open and Wuhan—it was just as big of an upset.

When combined, Coco’s wins over Swiatek and Sabalenka that week made her the youngest woman to beat No. 1 and No. 2 at the same event since Maria Sharapova at the US Open… in 2006.

In Flushing Meadows that year, a 19-year-old Sharapova defeated then-No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals, 6-0, 4-6, 6-0, and then-No. 2 Justine Henin for the championship, 6-4, 6-4.

Coco was just two years old at the time.

Coco’s also the youngest American woman to beat No. 1 and No. 2 at the same event since before she was even born.

Serena Williams was a slightly younger 20 when she did it at Miami in 2002, beating then-No. 2 Venus Williams in the semifinals, 6-2, 6-2, and then-No. 1 Jennifer Capriati in the final, 7-5, 7-6 (4).

Coco and Serena are two of just seven American women—including Venus and Capriati, too—to have achieved the feat since official WTA rankings began in 1975.

AMERICAN WOMEN TO BEAT TOP 2 AT SAME EVENT (since 1975):
Serena Williams [8 times]
Venus Williams [4 times]
Tracy Austin [3 times]
Martina Navratilova [2 times]
Jennifer Capriati [1 time]
Monica Seles [1 time]
Coco Gauff [1 time]

Our Top 5 Stats of the Year countdown continues tomorrow with a rare hard-court sweep…