Gauff digs deep to beat Uchijima in her Indian Wells opener

American Coco Gauff, the No 3 seed, edged out Japanese Moyuka Uchijima 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4) to reach the third round of the Indian Wells WTA 1000 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Saturday.

Uchijima made Gauff toil hard for the win as the Japanese saved four match points in a two-and-half-hour-long battle.

Also, the American put up a poor show in terms of serving as she committed a staggering 21 double faults, winning only 25 percent of her second-serve points. She conceded 19 break points and fortunately saved 11 and broke the Japanese seven times to eventually prevail.

The win meant Gauff ended a three-match losing streak, having failed in the Australian Open quarter-finals and first rounds in Qatar and Dubai.

“It wasn’t my best performance at all but I think, coming off of two first-round losses, it was good to get into the next round even if it wasn’t the best way,” Gauff told Tennis Channel after the match. “But this is one of those matches where the result you’re happy with but the process you’re a bit disappointed with.

“When I’m playing so bad and able to still win… it gives me hope that when things mesh together, I could be pretty dangerous. Obviously, I had matches this year when things have meshed together so just trying to get through this period.”

Gauff, ranked No 3, will play Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 29 seed, next.

In the previous round of the Indian Wells tournament, Uchijima, ranked No 52, defeated Emma Raducanu (6-3, 6-2).

Indian Wells WTA 1000, other second-round results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 8.963.700, most recent results first):

• Emma Navarro vs. Sorana Cirstea
• Aryna Sabalenka vs. McCartney Kessler
• Alycia Parks vs. Diana Shnaider
• Amanda Anisimova vs. Belinda Bencic
• Leylah Fernandez vs. Jaqueline Cristian
• Catherine McNally vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Sofia Kenin
• Elise Mertens vs. Kimberly Birrell
• Sonay Kartal (LL) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (16): 6-2, 6-1
• Donna Vekic (19) beat Elina Avanesyan: 6-3, 6-3
• Jasmine Paolini (6) beat Iva Jovic (WC): 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-3
• Madison Keys (5) beat Anastasia Potapova: 6-3, 6-0
• Maria Sakkari beat Viktoriya Tomova: 6-0, 6-3
• Polina Kudermetova beat Ekaterina Alexandrova (20): 7-5, 6-2
• Lucia Bronzetti beat Magdalena Frech (30): 6-3, 7-5
• Qinwen Zheng (8) beat Victoria Azarenka: 6-3, 6-4
• Danielle Collins (14) beat Hailey Baptiste (Q): 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
• Mirra Andreeva (9) beat Varvara Gracheva: 7-5, 6-4
• Elina Svitolina (23) beat Ashlyn Krueger: 6-1, 6-7 (8), 6-3
• Jessica Pegula (4) beat Magda Linette: 6-4, 6-2
• Xinyu Wang beat Jelena Ostapenko (26): 6-4, 6-4
• Iga Swiatek (2) beat Caroline Garcia: 6-2, 6-0
• Caroline Dolehide (WC) beat Eva Lys (LL): 7-6 (3), 6-4
• Lulu Sun beat Linda Noskova (31): 6-1, 6-4
• Dayana Yastremska beat Ons Jabeur (32): 6-3, 6-1
• Clara Tauson (22) beat Camila Osorio: 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Katerina Siniakova beat Yulia Putintseva (21): 6-2, 6-2
• Karolina Muchova (15) beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto: 6-4, 6-3
• Marta Kostyuk (18) beat Robin Montgomery (WC): 6-1, 6-3
• Katie Boulter (25) beat Irina-Camelia Begu: 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-0
• Elena Rybakina (7) beat Suzan Lamens: 6-3, 6-3

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