Coco Gauff recovers to beat Oceane Dodin at Miami Open

 

[March 25, 2024]  Third-seeded American Coco Gauff started slow and finished strong while recording a 6-4, 6-0 victory over lucky loser Oceane Dodin of France to advance to the round of 16 at the Miami Open on Sunday in Miami Gardens, Fla.

Gauff had six aces in the victory over Dodin, who was hampered by nine double faults.

Gauff will face No. 23 seed Caroline Garcia of France in the next round for a spot in the quarterfinals. Garcia ousted Japan's Naomi Osaka 7-6 (4), 7-5 on Sunday.

Dodin led 4-2 in the first set, but Gauff saved two break points and went on to win the seventh game. It was the start of Gauff winning 10 straight games to close the match.

"I was just trying to play aggressive," Gauff said. "She is the type of player who hits some big shots. She doesn't give much margins so you have to weather the storm a little bit."

Gauff has never won the Miami Open, a tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium that she considers her hometown event due to being born about 45 miles up the road in Delray Beach.

"It would be really cool to win here at home," the 20-year-old Gauff said. "I think the best part about winning here is just being able to drive home with the trophy and not have to fly and pack. It is something I do want to do."

No. 5 seed Jessica Pegula of the United States also advanced with a 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 31 seed Leylah Fernandez of Canada.

Pegula saved six of nine break points while holding off Fernandez.

Pegula next faces red-hot American Emma Navarro. The No. 20 seed saved four of seven break points during a 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 victory over No. 12 Jasmine Paolini of Italy.

The victory was Navarro's 20th of the young season.

In other matches, 19th-seeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea upset 10th-seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina 7-5, 6-2, and No. 14 Ekaterina Alexandrova was a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 winner over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in an all-Russian affair.

Cirstea is off to face Danielle Collins of the U.S., who swept Russia's Elina Avanesyan 6-1, 6-2 later Sunday.

Meanwhile, No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland survived a scare from 26th-seeded Czech Linda Noskova, coming away with a 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-4 victory.

It took Swiatek 2 hours, 33 minutes to get the job done, and she is now 22-2 on the season -- the best record on tour. Still, Swiatek is hoping she can put Sunday's shaky showing behind her.

"You know that I'm an overthinker," Swiatek said. "Usually the best tactic for me is to let it go. I want to use this experience. I'm pretty sure (Monday) I'm going to do that if everything goes well. Usually also these kind of things just settle in my head on their own. I'm just going to trust that it's going to be like that again."

--Field Level Media

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