Coco Gauff, a 'lucky loser,' became the youngest tennis finalist since 2004 when the 15-year-old American beat Andrea Petkovic at a tournament in Linz, Austria. It has been a week of firsts for Gauff in Austria
Under normal circumstances, Coco Gauff wouldn't have made the main draw at this week's tournament in Linz, Austria.
Follow @cnnsport But after getting a bit of luck, the 15-year-old has taken full advantage to become the WTA's youngest tennis finalist since Nicole Vaidisova in 2004 after beating Andrea Petkovic 6-4 6-4 Saturday. Gauff became a crowd favorite and household name at Wimbledon in July when she qualified, then beat one of her idols, Venus Williams, as part of a weeklong stay at tennis' most prestigious grand slam. She showed poise well above her teenaged years.
Li Na on Cori 'Coco' Gauff and Naomi Osaka 03:27Then as a wildcard at her home major, the US Open in August, it took the defending champion, Naomi Osaka, to stop the Florida resident in the third round. Read MoreREAD: Osaka chooses to represent Japan at OlympicsREAD: Clijsters to come out of retirement Limited in the number of WTA events she can play due to her age, Linz marked Gauff's first tournament since New York and she fell in qualifying to Tamara Korpatsch.
Cori 'Coco' Gauff flips out over celebrity shout-outs 00:54Her ranking will climb from its current 110th to around 80th even if she loses Sunday to either 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko or Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova, meaning Gauff will earn a direct spot into the next grand slam, January's Australian Open, instead of having to go through qualifying or needing a wildcard.
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