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Swiatek fired 17 winners and won 15 of 17 net
points in the first set. She then won 12 of the first 14 points
in the second set to open up a 3-0 lead, finishing the match
with 27 winners to 25 unforced errors. Swiatek broke Sorribes
Tormo's serve seven times.
"For sure, today I felt really confident and comfortable because
I've been practicing that a lot," Swiatek said. "I'm pretty
proud of my performance at the net because, technically, I feel
like my volley has changed. I'm really happy with that.
"I think against some players it's kind of necessary to go to
the net, and today that was that kind of a match."
The third-seeded Gauff extended her winning streak to 13 matches
by defeating Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5, 6-3 in 1 hour
and 22 minutes. The 19-year-old Gauff has won 19 of 20 matches
since her first-round setback at Wimbledon.
Gauff converted four of her eight break chances and finished
with 11 winners and 11 unforced errors, compared to 19 winners
and 24 unforced errors for the 20th-ranked Alexandrova. Serving
at 5-6 in the opening set, Alexandrova shot herself in the foot
with two double faults and a backhand into the net.
"Overall I'm happy with how I was able to push through," Gauff
said. "Is it how I like to play? Probably not. But I knew coming
in was going to be tough, just coming from across the world.
This is the first time here. I knew it was going to be a tough
match for me regardless. Especially Alexandrova, she's a great
player. I'm happy with how I was able to manage."
Gauff's second-round opponent will be Croatia's Petra Martic.
No. 5 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan breezed to a 6-1, 6-2
first-round win over China's Qinwen Zheng. No. 7 Ons Jabeur of
Tunisia also advanced to the second round with a 6-3, 6-4 win
over Ashlyn Krueger. No. 9 Caroline Garcia of France was a 6-2,
6-4 winner against Ukraine's Kateryna Baindl.
No. 11 Daria Kasatkina of Russia outlasted Egypt's Mayar Sherif
1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8), while Russia's Liudmila Samsonova knocked out
No. 12 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-5.
--Field Level Media
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