Top seed Coco Gauff rallies to reach WTA Montreal fourth round

Straits Times

4 days ago

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Coco Gauff of the United States waves to spectators after her victory against Veronika Kudermetova.
MONTREAL – Coco Gauff was not feeling her best, but she still won and that was enough for the American as she looked ahead to her next match.
The world No. 2 battled through another tough three-setter on July 31, rallying from a set and a break down to beat Veronika Kudermetova and reach the fourth round of the WTA Canadian Open.
The top-seeded American, who won her second Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, again struggled with her serve but held her nerve for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory over former world No. 9 Kudermetova.
'The goal of the game is to survive and advance,' Gauff said. 'It's not my best, but it was good enough for today and that's all I can ask for.'
Gauff arrived in Montreal having lost her tournament openers at Wimbledon and Berlin in the wake of her French Open triumph.
She struggled mightily in her first match in Montreal but came up with a win over Danielle Collins despite 23 double faults.
The numbers were not quite as ugly against Kudermetova, but 14 double faults were damaging enough. Seven of them came in the first set, as Gauff let a 4-1 lead get away.
She dropped her serve to open the second set, but after breaking back to level at 3-3 she broke again to force the third set – where she seized a 2-0 lead and powered home.
'I'm sure everybody could read my body language,' added Gauff, who admitted she 'got a little bit upset' with herself.
'But mentally I'm very proud of myself. The fact that I'm winning these matches not feeling my best is definitely something to be proud of.'
Her struggles on serve are especially frustrating, Gauff said, because she skipped last week's tournament in Washington to work on it and felt she had made progress.
'I just would like for it to transfer to the match,' said the American, who next faces 18-year-old Canadian wild card Victoria Mboko, a 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 winner over Czech Marie Bouzkova.
'She's definitely playing like one of the top players in the world right now,' Gauff added of Mboko, who took the American to three sets in Rome earlier this year.
In other third-round action, American McCartney Kessler shocked world No. 5 Mirra Andreeva, who got off to a strong start but could not hang on in a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 loss.
Making matters worse for Andreeva, the 18-year-old Russian who electrified the WTA with back-to-back 1000 level wins this year, she took a hard spill in the second set and took a medical time out to have her left ankle bandaged.
Kessler will fight for her first WTA 1000 quarter-final appearance against Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk, who beat Daria Kasatkina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
China's Zhu Lin, whose ranking has plummeted to 493 after months sidelined by injury, advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands.
Zhu will face Spain's Jessic Bouzas, who beat Japanese qualifier Aoi Ito 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Ninth-seeded Elena Rybakina roared through the first set and held on in the second for a 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Jacqueline Cristian, lining up a meeting with Dayana Yastremska, who ousted eighth-seeded American Emma Navarro 7-5, 6-4.
In men's tennis, top seed Alexander Zverev switched into survival mode to claim a milestone 500th ATP match win, fighting back to beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-2 at the Toronto Masters.
'It's a great achievement,' Zverev, winner of 24 ATP titles, said of reaching 500 career match wins.
'Not a lot of player reach this milestone.
'But I still want 500 more – maybe even more,' he joked. 'You always want to win as many matches as possible. I'm all about this.' AFP