Coco Gauff joins Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka in exclusive list after recording 51st Grand Slam victory

Coco Gauff will look to breach the quarter-final barrier on her fifth visit to London.

Coco Gauff took only 66 minutes on No. #1 Court to move into the third round of this year’s Wimbledon 2024 Championships. The second seeded American dropped only three games against Anca Todoni to win 6-2, 6-1. Romania’s Todoni had come through qualifying to defeat Olga Danilovic in the first round in her Grand Slam debut.

Gauff had got the better of compatriot Caroline Dolehide in another straight affair and a similar scoreline of 6-1, 6-2 to earn her place in the second round. Gauff’s latest win has made her only one of four women players to end up with over 50 wins in singles matches at Grand Slams this decade.

Iga Swiatek leads the list with 73 wins, Aryna Sabalenka is next with 72, and Ons Jabeur is on 52. Newcomer Coco Gauff is right on Jabeur’s heels with 51.

Gauff is in the bottom half of the draw that has been left wide open following the withdrawal of Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka with shoulder injuries. Karolina Pliskova was the only player in the bottom who had reached the final at SW19 — she was runner-up in 2021 to Ashleigh Barty. Sabalenka (2021, 2023) and Azarenka (2011, 2012) are two-time semifinalists in the grass-court major.

None of the remaining top 10 seeds have made it past the last eight at Wimbledon, meaning a pair of new semifinalists and a new finalist are likely this season.

Coco Gauff, the reigning US Open champion, made the last 16 on her Wimbledon debut in 2019 as a 15-year-old qualifier. The Championships remains the only Grand Slam where she is yet to reach the quarterfinals. The American has been a finalist at Roland Garros in 2022 and a semifinalist at the Australian Open in 2024.

Also Read: Coco Gauff’s projected path to Wimbledon 2024 final

The American has made the quarterfinals or better in the last three editions of the French Open but had the misfortune of running into Iga Swiatek each time, who prematurely ended her stay in Paris.

This time around, Gauff is seeded to meet Jasmine Paolini in the last eight, a player against whom she enjoys a 2-0 career lead, virtually guaranteeing the No. #2 seed a place in the semifinals for the first time. Gauff will look to become the first American woman since Serena Williams in 2016 to win at Wimbledon. Her upcoming third round against World No. #298 British woman Sonay Kartal is not likely to pose a hurdle to those ambitions.

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