Second-seeded Coco Gauff needed just 70 minutes to deliver a 6-3, 6-2 victory over China’s Xinyu Wang in second-round play Sunday at the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio.
Playing for the first time since winning the National Bank Open doubles title with McCartney Kessler in Montreal, Gauff shrugged off eight double faults by rebuffing all five of Wang’s break points.
Emma Navarro was not as fortunate in her first match. Germany’s Ella Seidel knocked out the eighth-seeded American 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 as Seidel broke Navarro three times in the third set.
Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova pulled off the other upset in afternoon action as she defeated No. 17 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-4, 7-6 (0). Kudermetova collected six aces to Bencic’s one. Bencic committed five double faults to Kudermetova’s one.
No. 7 Jasmine Paolini of Italy earned a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) win over Greece’s Maria Sakkari in a match that nearly took a crazy turn at the end. Paolini built a 6-0 lead in the second-set tiebreaker, but Sakkari saved five consecutive match points before double-faulting for an anticlimactic finish.
“I feel sorry for her, but, yes, after she missed the first serve, I was like, ‘Please make the double fault,” Paolini told Tennis Channel with a laugh. “I have to be honest. Because it was a really tough tiebreak… and I was praying.”
No. 16 Clara Tauson of Denmark built on the momentum from her semifinal run at Montreal with a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 win over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic. No. 23 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia claimed a walkover against Columbia’s Camila Osorio due to an abdominal injury.
No. 26 Ashlyn Krueger, No. 31 Magda Linette of Poland and No. 32 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine advanced to the third round with victories, while No. 3 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland learned a day early that she’s headed to the fourth round.
Swiatek was slated to face No. 25 Marta Kostyuk on Monday, but the Ukrainian withdrew Sunday due to a right wrist injury.
–Field Level Media
