London: American tennis prodigy, Cori Gauff, aged 15, pulled off a stunning upset against five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in the opening round of Grand Slam debut on Monday.
Gauff, who is the youngest player to qualify for Wimbledon, defeated one of her biggest idols in straight sets 6-4 6-4 on Wimbledon's No.1 Court at the All England Club.
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"I'm super shocked, but I'm just super blessed that Wimbledon decided to give me the wild card," Gauff said in her post-match press conference, as cited by WTA tennis. "I mean, I never expected this to happen.
"Obviously I literally got my dream draw, so I'm just super happy I was able to pull it out today. She played amazing, was just super nice. She's always been nice the couple of times I met her."
Gauff won the first set in 35 minutes. The fifteen-year-old never looked nervous through the set and went toe to toe with one of the legends of the game and at her opponent's favourite venue.
Venus Williams greets her opponent. In the second set, Gauff held three match point before Williams forced a breakpoint. The veteran failed to convert her change and the 15-year old Gauff sealed her dream debut with her fourth match point to claim the 6-4, 6-4 victory after an hour and 19 minutes.
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"I said this before: I want to be the greatest," Gauff said. "My dad told me that I could do this when I was eight. Obviously, you never believe it. I'm still, like, not 100% confident, but you have to just say things."
"You never know what happens. If I went into this match saying, 'Let's see how many games I can get against her,' then I most definitely would not have won. My goal was to play my best. My dream was to win. That's what happened," she added.
