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 [October 04, 2023]
U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff fought off a challenge from
Croatia's Petra Martic 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (2) to move on to the round of
16 at the China Open in Beijing on Tuesday.
For Gauff, it was her 14th straight victory. Both Martic and Gauff
pulled off six service breaks during the match, which lasted three
hours. Martic had 15 chances to break Gauff's service.
The most crucial break came with Martic serving up 5-4 in the third
set with a chance to put the match away, but Gauff broke her serve
to tie the match at five games.
"Today the struggle for me was honestly holding serve," Gauff said.
"I started off serving well in the first set. I think she started to
be more aggressive with the return, so it made me second-guess
myself.
"But overall I'm happy with today, it was a mental victory, and
happy I was able to get through."
In the next round, the third-seeded Gauff will meet Russian Veronika
Kudermetova, the 16th seed, who knocked out Lesia Tsurenko of
Ukraine 3-6, 6-0, 6-0.
In other action, top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus defeated Brit
Katie Boulter 7-5, 7-6 (2), and No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland
topped Varvara Gracheva of France 6-4, 6-1.
"In the key moments I played a little bit better than her,"
Sabalenka said of her match against Boulter. "I think it was all
about the last games in each set. I mean, she had the opportunity.
I'm super happy that I didn't give her easily those sets. I was keep
fighting, keep trying."
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Fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula also advanced in three
sets, defeating Anna Blinkova of Russia 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-1 in her
opening round. It was Pegula's first career win in Beijing.
In the round of 16, Pegula's opponent will be the 13th seed, Jelena
Ostapenko of Latvia. Pegula is 3-1 against Ostapenko.
Sabalenka will face Jasmine Paolini of Italy. Swiatek will meet
countrywoman Magda Linette.
The fifth seed, Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, eliminated Tatjana
Maria of Germany 7-5, 6-0. Her opponent in the next round will be
Mirra Andreeva, who beat fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in
straight sets.
Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk upset the seventh seed, Ons Jabeur of
Tunisia, 7-6 (5), 6-1
No. 9 seed Caroline Garcia of France got past Yulia Putintseva of
Kazakhstan 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, but the No. 11 seed, Daria Kasatkina of
Russia, fell to China's Xinyu Wang in two sets.
--Field Level Media
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