American teenager Coco Gauff won her first WTA tour title by beating Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 on Sunday to lift the Linz Open trophy.
Gauff, 15, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and third round at the US Open, bounced back after losing a one-sided second set to win the decider comfortably.
The American had earlier called Linz “my little lucky place” and its charm held for the teenager through the final despite a late wobble; after racing to a 5-0 lead in the third set, Gauff dropped two games to Ostapenko before closing out the match.
Gauff entered the tournament as a lucky loser, replacing injured sixth seed Maria Sakkari, having initially failed to make the main draw after suffering a straight-sets defeat to Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch in qualifying.
Her second-round win against Kateryna Kozlova earlier in the week secured her a place in the top 100 of the women’s rankings and a first WTA tour quarterfinal, from which the 15-year-old emerged victorious after seeing off top seed and world No. 8 Kiki Bertens in straight sets.
Gauff’s first tour semifinal led to her first final thanks to a win over Andrea Petkovic of Germany, again in straight sets, before the American lifted the trophy on Sunday.