Playing on the center court for the first time this year, 2018 Wimbledon Champion Angelique Kerber made a solid statement as she thrashed American teenager Coco Gauff in straight sets, 6-4,6-4.
It was a match that started with five breaks of serve between the two players in the first set. Not known to be a great server herself, the German lost her first two service games. But, to everyone’s surprise, Gauff gifted away three of her service games to Kerber.
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Angelique Kerber dominated Coco Gauff to clinch the first set
Also, both the players took time to adjust to the heavy breeze on center court. While Kerber used her experience and adjusted the footwork pretty quickly, the young American couldn’t handle the change well.
As a result, she continued to make errors from both the wings as Kerber began to take away the momentum completely from the youngster. It was a dominating set by the former champion as she held the remaining service games to win the set, 6-4.
With all honesty, Gauff didn’t play a terrible set and showed utmost resilience whenever she was down a break point. But, the defense game of Angelique Kerber was too good for the American.
The German’s defense became too good for Gauff to handle in the second set
Even the second set was met with the same fate as Gauff lost one of her initial service games. With both players aiming for winners instead of relying on baseline rallies, the match progressed real quick.
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Despite Gauff trying to remain aggressive as much as she can, her offensive game failed to beat the defense of Kerber. Whenever the teenager tried to land a drop shot or two, it went long, thanks to the wind.
The American didn’t serve to her standards and allowed Kerber to hit deep returns on the second serve. However, Gauff managed to stay in the match till the very end and forced German to serve for the match.
Serving for the match at 5-4 in the second, Kerber was able to make three accurate serves and forced errors out of Coco Gauff to win the match and reach the quarter-finals at SW19.
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Also read: Who Are Coco Gauff?s Tennis Coaches?