<
>

Scarlett named highest-earning female esports player

Sasha "Scarlett" Hostyn competes at the 2014 Intel Extreme Masters in Toronto, Canada. Provided by Helena Kristiansson/ESL

The Guinness World Records have named StarCraft II's Sasha "Scarlett" Hostyn the highest earning female esports player.

The Canadian Zerg player, 22, has won recognition from Guinness World Records as having the highest career earnings for a female competitive video game player and the most esports tournament results by a female gamer as of Oct. 5, 2016. Guinness totals Scarlett's winnings at $144,414, surpassing the previous record holder from 2015, Katherine "Mystik" Gunn, by about $20,000.

For many esports fans, the name Scarlett may summon visions of incredible creep spreads and historic wins by a non-Korean against top South Korean StarCraft players like Choi "Bomber" Ji Sung, Cho "Maru" Seong Ju and Jang "MC" Min Chul. After playing professionally for four years all over the world, Sasha "Scarlett" Hostyn is finally being highlighted under the Guinness spotlight.

Scarlett is known for placing highly in leagues or events like the World Championship Series, Red Bull Battle Grounds, Major League Gaming, ASUS ROG tournaments and HomeStory Cup. She is also the only female player to defeat a male opponent in a pro StarCraft II match on South Korean television. Scarlett currently competes with Team expert alongside Aleksandr "Bly" Svusuyk and 2016 World Championship Series champion Byun "ByuN" Hyun-woo.

Guinness World Records has also featured Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios for longest winning streak in Super Smash Bros. tournaments at 53 and Dota 2 player Sumail "Suma1L" Hassan Syed for becoming the youngest gamer to earn $1 million in esports winnings after Evil Geniuses took first place at The International in 2015.

The news about Scarlett was reported earlier by TeamLiquid.net's Twitter account.