British teenager Hannah Klugman became the youngest player to qualify for a W100 tournament on the ITF Tour before winning her first round match in Shrewsbury.
In just her fourth professional singles appearance, the 14-year-old defeated Czech Aneta Laboutkova 6-2 6-1 in her opening qualifier at the W100 Shrewsbury, before beating experienced Turkish player Pemra Ozgen 6-4 6-3 to the main draw where she defeated fellow qualifier Gina Feistel – world number 622 – 6-3 7-5 in the first round.
Her run breaks the record of reigning US Open women’s singles champion Coco Gauff, the previous youngest player to qualify for a W100 tournament.
Gauff reached the quarterfinals of the W100 Charleston in 2019 at just 15 years old.
At 14 years, eight months and four days, rising star Klugman is the third-youngest player to play in the main draw of an ITF W100 tournament overall, behind Radina Dimitrova (14 years, three months and six days) and Viktoriya Tomova (14 years, six months, 26 days) received wildcards during the W100 Sofia in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
Klugman will next play fellow British player Lily Miyazaki – Britain’s No. 5 and world No. 163 – in the second round of the women’s singles.
Klugman now has a 5-3 win-loss record on the ITF World Tennis Tour, having also reached the quarter-finals on her professional debut at W25 Nottingham in April.
She reached the quarterfinals of the US Open Junior Girls’ Singles Championship earlier this summer, after also advancing to the girls’ doubles final at Junior Wimbledon alongside Isabelle Lacy.