Coco Gauff overcomes 23 double faults to win in Montreal
Top-seeded Coco Gauff survived an error-laden second-round test from Danielle Collins, prevailing 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (2) in an all-U.S. matchup at the Omnium Banque Nationale on Tuesday in Montreal.
Gauff, who won the French Open last month for her second Grand Slam title, overcame a whopping 23 double faults. She served only three aces, though one came on her match point in the third-set tiebreaker. Collins' success ratio in that category wasn't much better, as she had two aces and 13 double faults.
Both players converted nine of their 16 break-point opportunities.
"I was practicing well and I don't think I transferred it today, but hopefully I got my bad match of the tournament out of the way," Gauff said.
Regarding her double-fault total and her 74 unforced errors, Gauff said, "Maybe if I cut that in half, it would be a quicker match for me. ... Danielle is a great ball-striker, and for me to break her as many times as I did, there's definitely some positives to take from today."
Gauff advances to a third-round match against Russia's Veronika Kudermetova, who topped 29th-seeded Olga Danilovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-2.
Earlier Tuesday, Aoi Ito of Japan completed a stunning comeback to eliminate Italian No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini, and hometown favorite Leylah Fernandez also experienced an early exit.
Ito, ranked No. 110 in the world, was down a set and a break before charging back to upset Paolini 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) in second-round action. Ito trailed 4-1 in the second set before coming back to tie the score; she saved one match point in the 10th game on her way to forcing the third set.
Ito controlled most of the third set before Paolini forced the tiebreaker. The Italian held several one-point leads in the back-and-forth tiebreaker but Ito came back from down 5-4 to record the final three points of the match.
Ito, 21, had not won a tour-level match all season until beating Katie Volynets in the first round Sunday.
That made it even more shocking that she could oust Paolini, who already has two WTA 1000 titles under her belt this year in Qatar and Italy.
Ito won despite committing 11 double faults. She converted 7 of 10 break points against Paolini while saving 11 of the 19 break points she faced.
As for Fernandez, she never held a lead in a 6-4, 6-1 first-round defeat to Australian Maya Joint. Fernandez had beaten Joint in the first round of last week's WTA 500 event in Washington, D.C., where the Canadian went on to capture the biggest title of her career.
It was not a banner day for the Canadian contingent. No. 8 seed Emma Navarro breezed past Canada's Rebecca Marino 6-1, 6-2 in 63 minutes.
Bianca Andreescu, meanwhile, withdrew due to a foot injury, allowing a walkover for fourth seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia. The Ontario native was the 2019 Canadian Open and U.S. Open champion.
In another first-round match, Caty McNally battled past fellow American Alycia Parks 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7). McNally fell behind 3-0 in the third-set tiebreaker and saved two match points before she pulled in front.
Other Round of 64 winners included No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan; No. 15 Daria Kasatkina of Australia; No. 24 Marta Kostyuk and No. 30 Dayana Yastremska, both of Ukraine; Russia's Anna Kalinskaya; Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro; Romania's Jaqueline Cristian; the Czech Republic's Marie Bouzkova; China's Lin Zhu; and the Netherlands' Suzan Lamens.
In the last match of the night, Canada's Victoria Mboko upset 23rd-seeded Sofia Kenin of the United States 6-2, 6-3.
--Field Level Media/Reuters
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
an hour ago
- GMA Network
LOOK: Team Philippines in the World Games opening ceremony
The World Games Chengdu 2025 - Chengdu, China - August 7, 2025 Philippines contingent during the opening ceremony REUTERS/Edgar Su The Philippines took part in the opening ceremony of the 2025 World Games on Thursday in Chengdu, China. Wushu star Agatha Wong and wakeboarder Raphael Trinidad led the 48-athlete delegation in the opening ceremony. The Philippines aims to exceed the one-gold medal output of the country from the 2022 edition of the World Games. The World Games, a tournament for non-Olympic sports and events, will be held until August 17. —JKC, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
11 hours ago
- GMA Network
Victoria Mboko, Naomi Osaka to meet for National Bank Open title
Victoria Mboko is learning quickly how to handle the most difficult situations on the WTA Tour. The 18-year-old Canadian performed the greatest feat of her journey through the National Bank Open in Montreal by rallying to defeat No. 9 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4). Mboko will face resurgent Naomi Osaka, who rallied in the second set tiebreaker to defeat No. 17 Clara Tauson of Denmark, 6-2, 7-6 (7). Osaka will make her first appearance in a WTA 1000 final since the 2022 Miami Open. Mboko, who defeated top seed Coco Gauff in the fourth round on Saturday, staved off a match point in the third set and broke big-serving Rybakina in the final two games of the set to force a tie-breaker. Moreover, the Toronto resident suffered a fall early in the third set and called for a medical timeout to tape an ailing wrist. Mboko was broken in the fifth game of the set and the 2022 Wimbledon champion served for the match at 5-4. She had a match point at 40-30, but produced an unforced error and Mboko earned the next two points to knot the set at 5-5. Rybakina broke to lead 6-5, but Mboko responded, breaking her opponent at love to send the match to a tiebreaker. The breaker was knotted at 4-4, but Mboko came up with winning forehands on the next two points and a Rybakina error on match point sent the Canadian crowd into a frenzy and Mboko into a state of disbelief. "I had everyone supporting me and pushing me through," said Mboko in her on-court interview. "Without you guys, I don't think I would've been able to pull this through." Mboko became the first Canadian player to defeat three Grand Slam champions (Rybakina, Gauff, Sofia Kenin) in a WTA event during the open era. She is just the second Canadian in the last 56 years (Bianca Andreescu, 2019) to compete in the finals of her country's national open. Osaka, who had to retire and gift Tauson the 2025 Auckland title, won 13 of 15 first serve points in the first set, broke Tauson twice and captured the first set. Osaka got up a break in the second set, but Tauson responded late to force a tiebreaker. Tauson led, 5-2, in the tiebreaker, but the four-time Grand Slam champion rallied to win it 9-7. The finals are set for Thursday at 6:00 p.m. ET. --Field Level Media/Reuters
GMA Network
12 hours ago
- GMA Network
Venus Williams on 2026 plans: Shouldn't 'ever rule me out'
Anyone who watched Venus Williams compete on the WTA Tour over the past three decades had to come away with at least one immutable truth. She is a fighter. Many of the tennis pundits and even Venus' most ardent supporters had to believe that the 2024 Miami Open would be her final hurrah. Her latest -- and most serious health issues -- surely would lead the seven-time Grand Slam champion to put the racquets in the closet. But not so fast. Williams earned a wild-card entry to the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. last month and knocked off 35th-ranked Peyton Stearns. Williams, 45, became the oldest player to earn a WTA singles victory since Martina Navratilova won a match at Wimbledon in 2004 as a 47-year-old. She would lose in the next round to Magdalena Frech, but proved to herself that 45 is just a number. "There's one thing that I know: You're never too young or too old to win or lose," Williams said as she prepares to compete in the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati. "Winning and losing knows no age. All that matters is that I'm prepared and ready. And the longer I play, the more I get into it, the more I train, the better I get." One year ago, Williams, who was diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome in 2011, fought a more serious health battle. She underwent surgery to remove fibroids and a large focal adenomyoma that was embedded in the muscle of her uterus. She posted this on Instagram recently: "I was told I was inoperable. I was told I could bleed to death on the table. I was told to get a surrogate and forget the hope to carry my own children. I was misdiagnosed. I went untreated for years and years and years. It's so important to advocate for your health! I suffered from severe anemia, debilitating pain, excessive bleeding and abnormally frequent menstrual cycles for many years. It affected my tennis and the trajectory of my career. I told my story so other women don't have to go through this and so they can get better sooner." The road to recovery was slow, but returning to the courts never left her thoughts. "At the end of the day, you have to live your life on your own terms," Williams said, as she prepares for an opening-round match against Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. "Your terms should be yours. It doesn't matter what anyone else says or what anyone else thinks. If you get to live life on your own terms, that's a life well-lived, and I firmly believe in that. "And I do what I do because I want to live life the way I want to, unapologetically, with no regrets and on my terms. ... Make your terms and don't surrender." After Cincinnati, Venus will compete in the 2025 US Open, partnering with Reilly Opelka in the new mixed doubles format and, hopefully, earning a wild-card entry into singles competition. Will that be Venus' final tennis chapter? Probably not. Could she compete again at age 46 in 2026? "I don't think you should ever rule me out," she said. --Field Level Media/Reuters
