Coco Gauff the first since Maria Sharapova to notch THIS particular feat

American teenage tennis sensation Coco Gauff on Saturday did a clean sweep of both the women’s singles and doubles titles in the Emilia-Romagna Open. Guaff dispatched China’s Wang Qiang in an hour and 14 minutes in the singles final. She beat the former world number 12 6-1, 6-3 in an excellent showing.

Gauff then made it a clean sweep of the titles in Parma. She paired with Caty McNally to win the doubles championship later on the same day. The 4th-seeded team defeated No. 2 seeds Darija Jurak and Andreja Klepac, 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

At 17 years and 70 days old, Coco Gauff is the youngest player since Maria Sharapova to sweep the singles and doubles titles at an event. Sharapova won both titles at Birmingham in 2004 at 17 years and 55 days old.

Incidentally, Sharapova completed the sweep 92 days after Gauff was born.

Means a lot to me: Coco Gauff

Speaking after the match, Gauff said the clean sweep meant a lot to her. “It definitely means a lot, especially on clay, which is not really a surface I feel like people associate with me.

“I always liked (clay), but I always fall on it, I always get dirty! I have good results on it, so it’s not about my performance. It’s just that clay shows you a little extra love than the other surfaces do.”

Gauff admitted the prospect of winning both titles played on her mind throughout the week.

“I feel like all week I just was thinking about it. Especially when we got to the semi-finals, you’re thinking about it, like, ‘It would be pretty cool to win both the singles and doubles titles.’ Happy that I was able to do that today.”

She further added she was happy her game plan of pushing singles opponent Wang back worked a treat.

“I think I did well in engaging every point and pushing (Wang) back. I know she normally likes to be aggressive. One of the main goals for me was just to be able to push her back and set up the shots I like to hit.”