Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Top seed Coco Gauff fought back from a set and a break down to notch a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Veronika Kudermetova and reach the Round of 16 for the fifth consecutive edition of Canadian Open. The 21-year-old Gauff is also the youngest player to register 10 career match-wins at this tournament since Justine Henin in 2003.
Gauff saw a 4-1 first-set lead slip away, and at 4-4, 40-15, the American lost five of the next eight points with double faults. Kudermetova took advantage, firing strong groundstroke winners from both wings as she wrapped up the set. Three more Gauff double faults in the opening game of the second set gave Kudermetova a hefty set-and-a-break lead, but the typically gritty Gauff started to turn the match around as the set progressed. Gauff was able to pull back level, breaking for 3-3 with a forehand return winner, WTA reports.
Gauff had to save break points in both her 4-4 and 5-5 service games, barely denying Kudermetova chances to serve for a straight-sets win. But the American did scrape to 6-5, at which point Kudermetova blinked, slamming a backhand smash into the net to give Gauff the second set. After that set, Gauff took charge, breaking Kudermetova at love for a 2-0 lead in the decider. Gauff eased home from there and finished the match with a 5-for-10 break point conversion rate.
Elsewhere, Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko defeated Czech Marie Bouzkova on Thursday night at the Omnium Banque Nationale 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 to reach the fourth round of a WTA 1000 event for the first time.
Mboko is the fifth 18-year-old to reach the Round of 16 in Canada in the last 10 years, joining Belinda Bencic, Catherine Cartan Bellis, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff — the latter of whom is her next opponent.
