Coco Gauff advances at Canadian Open despite continuing struggles

New York Times

6 days ago

Another day, another rabbit pulled out of a tennis bag for Coco Gauff.
Gauff, the 21-year-old world No. 2, survived another day of subpar serving and scraped herself off the pavement of the Canadian Open to win her second consecutive three-set match, beating Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. It was Gauff's ninth win in 10 three-set matches this season.
Advertisement
That scoreline might look fairly straightforward, but it was anything but that on a temperate summer afternoon in Montreal. Gauff served 14 double faults on the day, better than the 23 she served Tuesday in her opening, but 13 of those came during the first two sets when she put herself on the brink of defeat in a very familiar way.
Two matches into the North American hard-court swing, Gauff appears to be setting up a pattern. Whatever she manages to win during this part of the season, there won't be anything straightforward about it, with parts of her matches resembling slow-motion car wrecks that will be hard to watch and hard to turn away from until she gets the bugs out of a serve that can be devastating and disastrous from point to point.
Gauff appeared to be cruising at first, surging to a 4-1 lead. But Kudermetova won the next seven games, with plenty of help from the two-time Grand Slam champion. At 4-4 in the first set, Gauff hit consecutive double faults at deuce to give Kudermetova the game. Those were her sixth and seventh double faults of a set in which she made 22 unforced errors against just eight winners. By the end, she was talking to herself and showing some serious frustration.
Gauff started off the second set in much the same way, missing six consecutive serves to give Kudermetova the early break. After the third double-fault, she tossed her racket into the air and smacked it onto the ground, something she almost never does in a match.
But just when it appeared she might go away, Gauff buckled in like she so often does, keeping herself close and drawing even midway through the set. At 4-4, though, consecutive double faults, her 11th and 12th of the afternoon, put Kudermetova a point away from having a chance to serve out the match. Gauff saved those break points, though, and another one two games later on a point when a call went her way by a handful of millimeters.
Advertisement
A game later, she was somehow all even. And then Gauff played like the top-seed of the tournament is supposed to play against the world No. 42. Gauff double-faulted just once in the third set, allowing her to survive a day on which she made 53 unforced errors.
'Not my best but good enough for today,' she said on court after.
There was something like relief, but little joy in her response, other than some pride in her ability to stay mentally tough. And with that, she was on to the round of 16 in a tournament that offers her a huge opportunity. She is the only remaining seed in her quarter.