Melbourne VIC, Australia, 18 September 2017 | tennis.com.au

It’s been a season to remember for Daria Gavrilova.

The 23-year-old in June leap-frogged Sam Stosur in the rankings to become the top Aussie female, a mantle Stosur had held for a near nine-year period uninterrupted.

Two months after that, she won her first WTA title in New Haven, beating Dominika Cibulkova in a three-set finale, and pierced the top 20 for the first time.

Gavrilova, who also reached the final in Strasbourg this season, had a chat with tennis.com.au about a year full of milestones and what lies ahead for the rest of it.

On winning her first WTA title in New Haven …

“Winning the first title was pretty cool. It felt unbelievable for the first five minutes, I was celebrating. Then I was like, alright, I’ve just won a tournament, now I want more. And it really did motivate me; I felt like if I could win one, I could do more. Now I’ve had a week of preparation before Asia and I was really motivated. It does inspire you.”

On being the No.1 Australian female …

“It feels pretty special. I feel like now a few girls are gonna look up to me and I have to really give them a good example. I feel like Sam (Stosur) is still our leader and I look up to her a lot but yeah, it feels pretty special.”

On the healthy state of Aussie women’s tennis …

“We’ve got so many girls now inside 200 which is great. So many girls are getting into qualies of Grand Slams and it’s just a really good atmosphere. We all really support each other and it’s just nice to have so many girls travelling around and playing the same tournaments. I think our tennis is in good hands right now and I think our leaders like Alicia (Molik) and Pratty (Nicole Pratt) are doing a really good job.”

On travelling with the other Aussie girls …

“We all get along well. Ash (Barty) is always someone who is looking out for us for finding really good coffee – she loves her coffee. I’m always like, where are the good places? And we all go out for breakfasts and stuff, even dinner. We’re all pretty chilled so we really like to support each other and Case (Casey Dellacqua) is someone who is gonna go out and watch us play and we try to do the same. Yeah, just really being supportive.”

On the next few months ahead…

“So I’m going to Asia. Playing my first tournament in Japan (Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo) and then I’m doing China and I’ll play my last tournament in Russia in my birth town (of Moscow), but I’m Australian (laughter). A few more tournaments before the end of the season and my biggest goal is to make it to Zhuhai, the year-end tournament.”