Indian Wells WTA: Gauff sees off Sakkari challenge to make last 16
Coco Gauff beat Maria Sakkari 7-6 (1), 6-2 on Monday. She’ll face the winner of the match between Swiss wildcard Belinda Bencic and Russian Diana Shnaider, the No 13 seed, in the next round
Coco Gauff at Indian Wells (Icon SMI/Panoramic)
American Coco Gauff, the No 3 seed, defeated Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 29 seed, 7-6 (1), 6-2 to move into the last 16 of the Indian Wells WTA 1000 in California on Monday.
It was an improved yet still rather nervy effort from Gauff, who had lost both of her matches in February before barely scraping past Moyuka Uchijima in her opening match of the tournament.
The American required six match points to close out the contest, facing four break points in the final game of the match as well.
But with less double faults then in her first-round showing, and 63.5 percent of first serves made, Gauff was able to book her place in the round of 16.
“Except the last game, I thought I played a great match,” Gauff said afterwards. “Trying to look at the positives. A bit disappointed with the last game, but that’s just the perfectionist in me.
“I lost to Maria here last year in the semifinals, so it felt good to get a little revenge today… Even though I love her.”
Gauff, ranked No 3, will play the winner of the match between Swiss wildcard Belinda Bencic and Russian Diana Shnaider, the No 13 seed, next.
In the previous round of the Indian Wells tournament, the 20-year-old American edged out Japanese Uchijima (6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4)).
Sakkari, ranked No 29, won against Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova (6-0, 6-3) in the previous round of the Indian Wells tournament.
Indian Wells WTA 1000, other third-round results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 8.963.700, most recent results first):
- Jaqueline Cristian vs. Jasmine Paolini
- Emma Navarro vs. Donna Vekic
- Daria Kasatkina vs. Liudmila Samsonova
- Aryna Sabalenka vs. Lucia Bronzetti
- Belinda Bencic vs. Diana Shnaider: monday
- Sonay Kartal (LL) beat Polina Kudermetova: 7-5, 6-3
- Madison Keys (5) beat Elise Mertens (28): 6-2, 6-7 (8), 6-4
- Qinwen Zheng (8) beat Lulu Sun: 6-4, 7-5
- Mirra Andreeva (9) beat Clara Tauson (22): 6-3, 6-0
- Elina Svitolina (23) beat Danielle Collins (14): 6-2, 6-4
- Jessica Pegula (4) beat Xinyu Wang: 6-2, 6-1
- Karolina Muchova (15) beat Katerina Siniakova: 7-5, 6-1
- Elena Rybakina (7) beat Katie Boulter (25): 6-0, 7-5
- Iga Swiatek (2) beat Dayana Yastremska: 6-0, 6-2
- Marta Kostyuk (18) beat Caroline Dolehide (WC): 6-3, 6-3
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