Olivia Gadecki stuns the world after beating Australian Open defending champion Sofia Kenin

Rising star Olivia Gadecki knew Sofia Kenin was feeling low after an early Australian Open exit and was confident ‘I could take her down’. The rest is now etched in tennis folklore.

Teenage tennis sensation Olivia Gadecki is targeting a top-300 ranking by year’s end after a breakthrough match which saw her rewrite record books by toppling the world No.4.

Gadecki is currently unranked on the WTA singles leaderboard and has a career-high ranking of 988 in the world.

Before this year, the Queenslander had never faced off with an opponent ranked in the top 200, but on Sunday she took down 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in a David and Goliath battle during the Phillip Island Trophy, triumphing 2-6 7-6(4) 6-4.

Olivia Gadecki captured the world’s attention with her incredible upset win.

Kenin had hoped to use the tournament to regain confidence in her game after a shock second-round exit from the Australian Open.

Gadecki knew the American was feeling down – and set out to use it to her advantage.

In winning she became the first unranked teenager to defeat a Top 10 player since 1997.

“Going into that match my mindset was that I could take her down, although I was a little bit nervous because she is so highly ranked and she’s the Australian Open defending champ,” Gadecki said on Monday.

“I thought I might have an advantage over her mental state. I know a lot of people were telling me how she was a bit down and I really tried to take advantage of that. There was stuff that my coach gave me game-plan wise, but I just knew if I just stayed tough and competed to the very end and gave it my very all, I thought I’d have a chance.”

A long-time tennis prodigy, Gadecki was once the top-ranked 12-year-old in Australia.

Gadecki now has her sights on qualifying for Wimbledon.

She continued to work hard on her game, before becoming tired of the long hours training and giving it away to focus on her Year 12 schooling last year.

“I was still playing a little tennis but I didn’t love it during those times,” the 18-year-old said.

“But once I finished (school), that’s when I knew I actually loved the sport and I really wanted to do it.”

Gadecki did a pre-season training with fellow Queenslander Ash Barty leading up to the Australian Open and credits the world No. 1 with helping her make giant strides with her game.

Barty was in the stands at Melbourne Park watching as Gadecki upset Kenin on Sunday and caught up with the over-the-moon winner in the corridors at Melbourne Park after the match.

“She actually came out after my match in the hallway and gave me a big hug and said how proud of me she was, which was really, really nice,” Gadecki said.

Ash Barty was an interested observor during the match.

“It was probably one of the best moments, I think, just knowing that you have someone so highly ranked in your corner that you can just go to whenever you need.

“I’m super grateful for all her time and effort that she’s put into my growth. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her help.”

While the win over Kenin will serve as a “pretty big confidence-booster”, Gadecki knows she has to back it up.

Qualifying for her first Grand Slam at Wimbledon this year is in her sights, but for now it’s about taking small steps on the goals front.

“One of them (my goals for 2021) was to compete to the very end in every match that I play,” Gadecki said.

“So far, I can tick that off.”

Originally published as Olivia Gadecki stuns the world after beating Australian Open defending champion Sofia Kenin