Rising star Gauff dreams of celebrating her birthday in style

The American sensation will turn 17 on Saturday, the day WTA finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships will take place and Gauff dreams of celebrating her birthday in style.

Reaching final and lifting the trophy would be a perfect way to mark the birthday. That’d be a pretty good birthday gift. That’s definitely a big motivation,” said Gauff.

“I would much rather celebrate it that way, especially now, in today’s world, we cannot really celebrate anything and that probably the best celebration one can get. So, that’s the goal and hopefully that will be my birthday wish, she added.

Gauf earned a reputation of a giant-killer after stunning Venus Williams and then champion Naomi Osaka to reach the fourth round of Australian Open last year.

It was second successive match in Dubai for the debutant where she had to dig deep. Playing in first, Gauff had trouble closing out and needed to save two match points before finally fending off Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6 (3), 2-6, 7-6 (8) on Sunday.

The American has now played 25 three-setters in her 60 WTA main draw and qualifying matches, including her last seven straight.