The cream of the crop is rising at the French Open, and as usual that includes Coco Gauff. The World No. 2 advanced to the quarterfinals on Monday with a comfortable 6-0, 7-5 win over No. 20 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Gauff has now reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in five consecutive years, an incredible number for someone who is just 21 years old. That is clearly a historic milestone, one that puts her in the same breath as the great Venus Williams, according to OptaAce.

Gauff is the youngest player to reach five consecutive quarterfinals at a single Grand Slam on the women's side since Venus Williams did it all the way back at the U.S. Open in 2001.

While the American phenom has made a living going deep at Roland Garros, she has not been able to lift the trophy just yet. She did reach the final back in 2022, but was beaten handily by four-time champion Iga Swiatek. She lost to Swiatek in the quarterfinals last year, but would not have to face her until the final in this edition.

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With Monday's win, Gauff also became the fourth-youngest player ever to reach five consecutive quarterfinals at Roland Garros, per OptaAce. The only ones younger are Martina Hingis, Steffi Graf and Conchita Martinez.

In an ironic twist, Gauff's path may very well cross with Martinez in just a few days' time. The legendary Spaniard is now the coach of No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva, a young phenom at just 18 years old herself. If Andreeva and Gauff were to both win their quarterfinal matches, they would meet in the semifinals on Thursday.

Gauff can't be looking ahead to that clash too early, however. She will have her work cut out for her in the quarterfinals against No. 7 seed Madison Keys. Keys won the Australian Open in January and has won 11 consecutive matches at Grand Slam level, so she should provide a stiff challenge for the 2023 U.S. Open champion on Wednesday.

The top half of the draw still features Swiatek and World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, so it's far too early for Gauff to be thinking about the trophy. However, she is playing some great tennis this clay-court season and is clearly one of the top contenders for the title.