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American 15-year-old Cori "Coco" Gauff showed her stunning first-round defeat of Venus Williams was no flash in the pan as she outclassed Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 6-3 to reach the third round.
Gauff, the youngest player to reach the Wimbledon women's singles main draw via qualifying, and the youngest to win a round since 1991, gave the 30-year-old former semi-finalist a torrid time as her fairytale debut continued under the Court One roof.
She took charge of the match by breaking the 139th-ranked Slovakian's serve to love in the sixth game and was in control thereafter.
Rybarikova, a semi-finalist in 2017, might have hoped for Gauff's level to dip but it never looked likely.
Sensational as victory over her idol and five-time champion Williams was, the way she backed it up was arguably more impressive as she appeared completely impervious to the hullabaloo she had caused at the All England Club.
In two matches, she has made 18 unforced errors and barely put a foot wrong.
"I just still can't believe she is 15," American great John McEnroe said in his summary for the BBC.
But even Gauff herself told reporters after the match she was the real deal: "You can kind of fake it till you make it. But I'm not faking it, at least right now."
Incredibly, this time last week Gauff was preparing for a science exam and was jetted into London at short notice after being handed a wildcard for the qualifying event.
After a whirlwind week she now finds herself one win away from becoming the youngest player to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati, aged 14, in 1990.
After beating Venus, Gauff is already receiving the sort of attention that surrounded Capriati when she burst onto the scene.
"I wasn't expecting any of this. A lot of celebrities were DMing, posting me. I'm kind of star struck. It's been hard to reset," she told reporters.
"There's so much going on. I'm still shocked that I'm even here," the world number 313 said.
She will next face Slovenian Polona Hercog, who beat another former American prodigy, Madison Keys.
Alexei Popyrin hopes to return as a bona fide title contender after his head-turning Wimbledon run came to an end at the hands of world number 11 Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev needed four high-quality sets to eliminate the Australian teenager 6-7(6/8), 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round on Wednesday.
Popyrin was making his main-draw debut after powering through three qualifying matches and then beating former US Open semi-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta in the opening round.
He showed true grit to take the first set in a tight tiebreaker before Medvedev's class and experience told as the Russian prevailed after two hours and 31 minutes.
While disappointed to have bowed out, Popyrin departed the All England Club heartened by his breakthrough.
"It's very encouraging. Every experience, every time I get to play a top-10 player I always feel like I'm in the match," he said.
"I never feel like I'm being blown away … I always feel like I've got the game to compete with these guys — and beat them.
"If you go into the match expecting to lose, then what's the point of going in? So that's the mentality I have and that's what I try to bring on court."
The 19-year-old's great run has at least secured him a direct entry to next month's US Open, with Popyrin projected to rise to number 88 in the world.
He will be one of only three teenagers in the top 100 behind Canadian prodigy Felix Auger-Aliassime (18) and Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (19).
"It's what we strive for, what we improve for, what we work for, just getting that ranking better every time and just keep chipping away at the rankings, trying to get to that number one spot. Hopefully I can do it," Popyrin said.
"That's always been the goal, coming into every grand slam as a genuine title contender.
"But there's still a lot of work to do until then. I'm still 19 and still outside the top 90 right now."
Popyrin two years ago became the first Australian to win the French Open junior crown in almost 50 years, joining John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall and Phil Dent on the honour roll.
But his run on grass in London, and victory over two-time Roland Garros runner-up Dominic Thiem on the way to the third round of the Australian Open, confirms the Sydney-born, Spain-raised talent as a genuine all-court player.
Meanwhile, Ajla Tomljanovic plans to recharge the batteries and mentally freshen up after being handed a grand slam reality check.
Rampant former world number one Victoria Azarenka routed Tomjlanovic 6-2, 6-0 in the second round, leaving Ash Barty as Australia's last women's singles hope.
"I'm going to take a little bit of time off to regroup and disconnect a little bit. I think I really need it after this trip," Tomljanovic said.
AAP/Reuters
Topics: tennis, sport, england, united-kingdom, australia
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