Klugman betters Gauff as youngest to qualify for an ITF W100 event
It would be worth keeping an eye on Hannah Klugman in the months to come.
The 14-year-old Brit became the youngest player to qualify for a W100 tournament on the ITF World Tennis Tour after earning her place in the main draw - and going on to reach the quarter-finals - at W100 Shrewsbury.
Klugman, the current junior world No. 16, reached the quarter-finals of the girls’ singles event at the US Open last month and made quite the statement in her first event since then.
In just the fourth professional singles tournament of her career, she defeated Czech Aneta Laboutkova 6-2 6-1 and 37-year-old Pemra Ozgen 6-4 6-3 to reach the main draw, before seeing off fellow qualifier Gina Feistel - the world No. 622 - 6-3 7-5 and top 200 player Yuriko Lily Miyazaki 7-6(7) 4-6 6-2 in the opening two rounds.
As a result, she betters the record of reigning US Open women’s singles champion Coco Gauff, who was the previous youngest player to qualify for a W100 tournament. Gauff went on to reach the quarter-finals at W100 Charleston aged just 15 in 2019.
At 14 years, 8 months and 4 days, Klugman is the third youngest player to feature in the main draw of an ITF W100 tournament overall, with Radina Dimitrova (14 years, 3 months and 6 days) and Viktoriya Tomova (14 years, 6 months, 26 days) awarded wild cards at W100 Sofia in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
Klugman, who ultimately fell to Oceane Dodin - the world No. 102 - in the last eight in Shrewsbury, now has a 6-4 win-loss record on the ITF World Tennis Tour, having also reached the quarter-finals on her professional debut at W25 Nottingham in April.
🇬🇧 Hannah Klugman talks after defeating no. 7️⃣ seed Pemra Özgen in just her 4️⃣th ever pro event to reach the #W100Shrewsbury main draw. 🙌
— The Shrewsbury Club (@shrewsbury_club) October 16, 2023
The 14-year-old has not dropped a set in winning her two qualifying matches. 👏 @LTACompetitions pic.twitter.com/3gHFNNHFVZ
Click here for the draws and results from W100 Shrewsbury.