Coco Gauff sealed her place at the 2022 WTA finals after her 2nd round victory in the WTA 1000 event in Guadalajara.
The teenager defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto 7-6(1) 6-3 and will face another Italian in Martina Trevisan in the round of 16.
Gauff becomes the youngest to compete at the WTA finals since Maria Sharapova in 2005, and joins her doubles partner Jessica Pegula in qualifying for singles and doubles.
After the match Gauff admitted it meant a lot to qualify for the season-ending finale, “It means a lot,” Gauff was quoted by planet sport as saying.
“Honestly I didn’t think about it until I realised how close I was and I think I went maybe a little bit nervous in the end but I’m super excited to be playing in the WTA Finals, especially in the USA, and qualifying in singles and doubles is definitely a good achievement.
“I didn’t expect that when I set my goals at the beginning of the year. I’m really happy and I hope I can do a good performance there.”
Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur and Caroline Garcia make up the rest of the completed singles field so far, after the latter’s 2nd round win on Tuesday.
The tournament in Mexico lost top seed Paula Badosa on Wednesday, after the Spaniard retired due to illness after trailing Victoria Azarenka 6-2.
Defeat means that Badosa is out of contention for WTA finals
qualification, and will drop out of the worlds top 10 at the end of the season.
2nd seed Aryna Sabalenka also fell in round two, after a 6-4 2-6 6-2 loss to Liudmila Samsonova. The Belarusian occupies 6th place in the WTA race, and remains likely to qualify for the year-end championships, unless several results go against her.
Veronika Kudermetova overtook Maria Sakkari into 8th place after beating Donna Vekic 6-4 7-5 on Wednesday. The Russian faces Jelena Ostapenko in the next round, but may have to ensure that she at least matches Sakkari’s performance in Guadalajara to keep 8th spot.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, there were impressive wins for Americans Jessica Pegula and Sloane Stephens. Pegula defeated Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 2-6 6-3 7-6(8), saving two match points en route to victory, while Stephens put out 10th seed Belinda Bencic 6-4 6-4.
Danielle Collins and Madison Keys kept their slim hopes of WTA finals qualification alive with 2nd round victories. Collins defeated Magdalena Frech 6-3 6-4, and must win this weeks tournament to stay in contention.
While Keys beat Alja Tomljanovic 3-6 6-4 6-3, and could qualify if she reaches the final. Both players are in action on Thursday against Maria Sakkari and Victoria Azarenka respectively.