Wimbledon 2019: Cori Gauff, 15, reaches fourth round

July 5 (UPI) -- American teenager Cori Gauff rallied to defeat 28-year-old Slovenian Polona Hercog on Friday at Wimbledon.

Gauff, who is 15, faced another unseeded opponent, erased a pair of match points and came back to beat Hercog 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 to advance to the fourth round.

Gauff., who is ranked No. 313 in the world, became the fifth-youngest woman ever to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon in the Open Era.

"Right now, I'm just super relieved that it's over," Gauff said. "I always knew that I could come back, no matter what the score is."

Hercog won the first set, marking the first time in the tournament that Gauff dropped a set. The young American then trailed 5-2 in the second before rallying for the win.

Gauff, who became the youngest player to qualify for Wimbledon, upset five-time champion Venus Williams in the opening round of the tournament. With the victory, she became the youngest female challenger to win a match at Wimbledon since 1991.

The rising star defeated 2017 Wimbledon semifinalist Magdalena Rybarikova in the second round.

Gauff faces No. 7 seed Simona Halep on Monday in the last 16.

In other women's action at Wimbledon, third-seeded Karolina Pliskova defeated No. 28 Su-Wei Hsieh 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, and No. 7 seed Simona Halep beat Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-1 on Centre Court to advance to the fourth round.

Eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina edged No. 31 Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-2 in their third-round match. Zhang Shuai upset 14th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-2.

On the men's side, top-seeded Novak Djokovic defeated Hubert Hurkacz 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-4 on Friday. No. 4 Kevin Anderson, who lost to Djokovic in the final a year ago, lost in three sets to Guido Pella.