Coco Gauff was on and off the court quickly in a 6-1, 6-2 rout of Argentine qualifier Nadia Podoroska in the second round of the Miami Open on a rainy Friday in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Gauff, a 20-year-old South Florida native, needed just 77 minutes to prevail in her first match of the tournament. The 32 seeded players all received first-round byes.
The reigning U.S. Open champion produced a 5-0 edge in aces, saved all five break points on her serve and won 34 of her 39 first-serve points (87 percent).
Gauff is staying at her family’s home in Delray Beach, Fla., this week, which can be both a good and bad thing. One of her younger brothers interrupted her sleep earlier this week.
“I had to text him … to, like, ‘Stop screaming,'” Gauff said. “He was playing a game and he said he was sorry. Other than that, it’s really nice and refreshing.”
Gauff played one of just six matches that were completed Friday as rain disrupted the schedule.
Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus downed Spain’s Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-3. Badosa managed only one break point on Sabalenka’s serve and couldn’t convert.
Two Russian players advanced, as 14th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova defeated Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-4 and 21st-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova trounced the United States’ Shelby Rogers 6-2, 6-1.
No. 20 Emma Navarro of the United States topped Australia’s Storm Hunter 6-4, 6-3, and France’s Oceane Dodin beat the Netherlands’ Arantxa Rus 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Among the matches that were postponed until Saturday were No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland vs. Camila Giorgi of Italy as well as No. 15 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine vs. Naomi Osaka of Japan.
–Field Level Media
