Italian Open: Gauff shrugs off 15 double faults and a bagel set to get past Cristian

American Coco Gauff, the No 3 seed, shrugged off 15 double faults and a bagel set to beat Romanian lucky loser Jaqueline Cristian 6-1, 0-6, 6-3 and advance to the last 16 of the Italian Open at the Foro Italico in Rome on Saturday evening.

Gauff, ranked No 3, was completely out of sorts in the second set but bounced back well in the third. The American, who could become world No 2 for the first time, depending on results in Rome, will face Spaniard Paula Badosa next.

” I think (when) you lose a set 6-0, I mean, the first three games I will say she played well. One or two points, it could have been 2-1. The last three games definitely was on my racquet where I was just making errors.

“I kind of just, like, brushed it off because I was like, Really, she beat you in three to four games that set, and you gave away three. I think for me, when I lose a set like that, you feel better about it than when you lose a set and you feel like you’re playing good and they’re just blowing you off the court.

I don’t like getting bagelled, but it’s OK. I am happy with how I was able to buckle down. I felt, like, very confident going into the third set, (when) I could have let the 6-0 get to me.”

The 20-year-old American won against Pole Magdalena Frech (6-3, 6-3) in the previous round of the Rome tournament.

Cristian, ranked No 68, defeated Russian Elina Avanesyan (5-7, 6-2, 6-2) to reach the third round.

Rome WTA 1000, other third-round results (Foro Italico, clay, USD 5.509.771, most recent results first):

• eElina Svitolina vs. Anna Kalinskaya
• Danielle Collins vs. Caroline Garcia
• Victoria Azarenka vs. Mayar Sherif
• Sara Sorribes Tormo vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Dayana Yastremska vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Sofia Kenin vs. Rebecca Sramkova
• Elise Mertens vs. Irina-Camelia Begu
• Maria Sakkari vs. Anhelina Kalinina
• Sorana Cirstea (28) beat Marketa Vondrousova (6): 7-6 (1), 6-3
• Madison Keys (18) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (12): 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
• Qinwen Zheng (7) beat Linda Noskova (29): 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
• Naomi Osaka beat Daria Kasatkina (10): 6-3, 6-3
• Angelique Kerber beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Q): 6-3, 7-6 (4)
• Paula Badosa beat Diana Shnaider: 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Yulia Putintseva: 6-3, 6-4