WASHINGTON (AFP) – US teen Coco Gauff notched another impressive tennis victory Wednesday, toppling second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Lexington, Kentucky.
Gauff, playing her first tournament in the coronavirus-disrupted season since she stunned defending champion Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open, lined up a quarter-final clash with eighth-seeded Tunisian Ons Jabeur, a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 winner over Olga Govortsova.
”I’m just happy to have pulled it through today,” Gauff said after coming out on top in a see-saw battle that lasted two hours and 24 minutes.
Up 5-2 in the first set, the 16-year-old American would need a tie-breaker to put it away.
Sabalenka, who won her third career Premier 5 title in Qatar before the WTA Tour was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic, took a 5-2 lead in the second set and held off a challenge from Gauff to knot the match at a set apiece.
The third set opened with a string of service breaks, Sabalenka twice clawing back a break.
But Gauff gained a break to lead 5-4 and served out the match with an angled forehand winner.
In other second-round matches Wednesday, Czech Marie Bouzkova beat Russian Anna Blinkova, 6-4, 6-2, to line up a clash with American Jen Brady, who toppled sixth-seeded Magda Linette of Poland, 6-2, 6-3.
The marquee match of the second round was set for Thursday, with top-seeded Serena Williams due to take on sister Venus.
Serena shrugged off the absence of fans in a come-from-behind victory over Bernarda Pera on Tuesday, the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s first competitive match since a Fed Cup appearance in February.
Venus Williams beat former world number one Victoria Azarenka to set up the mouth-watering matchup with her younger sister – their first since the 2018 US Open.
