Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - June 30, 2022 Coco Gauff of the U.S. in action during her second round match against Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu REUTERS/Paul Childs
LONDON (Reuters) - American Coco Gauff made jaws drop as she launched a 122 mile per hour (mph) rocket and 124 mph effort across the net in the Wimbledon second round on Thursday, the fastest serves so far in the women's tournament.
Facing Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu on Centre Court, the 18-year-old phenom forced her opponent into a forehand error to close the fifth game of the first set with the power serve.
She followed that with the 124 mph stunner in the second set, before closing out the match 6-2 6-3 to set up a third-round clash with compatriot Amanda Anisimova.
One of the most fearsome servers in the sport, the 18-year-old Roland-Garros finalist unleashed a 121 mph serve in the prior round against Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
Petra Kvitova and Elena Rybakina were the second fastest servers of the competition so far with 119 mph.
The 12th-ranked Gauff exploded onto the global stage at Wimbledon in 2019 when she reached the fourth round of the grass-court major at just 15 years of age.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
