Indian Wells: Birthday girl Gauff advances to last eight, feels ‘blessed’ to be in her position

American Coco Gauff, the No 3 seed, won against Belgian Elise Mertens, the No 24 seed, 6-0, 6-2 to reach the last 8 of the Indian Wells at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Wednesday evening.

Gauff continued her 100 per cent 4-0 record over the Belgian, which extends across hard, clay and grass courts. She is into her second consecutive quarter-final at Indian Wells and told the media after her win how she feels blessed to be in the position that she is.

“I definitely do recognize the uniqueness of it (where I am today). It is a contrast of why me and also the work that I put in. I don’t think it’s solely because of work, because a lot of people work hard. Some people, I don’t know, just — I’m lucky that I was born with a great athletic ability, which kind of helps me. I also was born with, like, a worth ethic and learned how to work hard and can enjoy working hard,” Gauff said. “But yeah, it is sometimes, like, Why me? Because again, on tour, and even when I was playing like 25s and you just see girls are really working hard, it’s not like they’re not working hard but they just can’t get it. Not that I say I have it all figured out, because I don’t, but I am very blessed to be in the position I am in.”

I don’t know why people gravitate to me so much, but I definitely do appreciate it and it makes me feel loved…

Gauff, who was recently named as one of TIME magazine’s Women of the year and also landed on the cover of Vogue magazine, added she does not always understand the interest in her off the court but does appreciate it at the same time.

“I guess everything with off-court, that’s definitely more the “why me” part. Because, winning was always something I just envisioned myself doing, just because that’s just what every tennis player envisions. Definitely the off-court stuff when it comes to the covers and the attention from other celebrities or just people in general, it is kind of like, I don’t know why people gravitate to me so much, but I definitely do appreciate it and it makes me feel loved and I hope I can make other people feel the same way,” the American said.

Gauff, ranked No 3, will next play China’s Yue Yuan, who upset Russian Daria Kasatkina, the No 11 seed, in another fourth round clash.

With the win, Gauff qualifies for her 13th quarter-final in WTA 1000 events, the most for any player before turning 21 (the earlier record was held by Caroline Wozniacki who made 12). This was also her 16th time in a round of 16 match at WTA 1000 events, the most of any teenager since the format was
introduced in 2009.

Ahead of her victory, the 20-year-old American edged out Frenchwoman Clara Burel (2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)) and defeated Italian Lucia Bronzetti (6-2, 7-6 (5)).

Mertens, ranked No 28, beat Chinese Xinyu Wang (6-1, 6-4) and Japanese Naomi Osaka (7-5, 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Indian Wells tournament.

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Indian Wells WTA 1000, other round of 16 results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 9,258,080, most recent results first):

• Emma Navarro (23) beat Aryna Sabalenka (2): 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Yulia Putintseva: 6-1, 6-2
• Caroline Wozniacki (WC) beat Angelique Kerber: 6-4, 6-2
• Marta Kostyuk (31) beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (22): 6-4, 6-1
• Anastasia Potapova (28) beat Jasmine Paolini (13): 7-5, 0-6, 6-3
• Yue Yuan vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Diane Parry vs. Maria Sakkari