via Reuters
Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – September 27, 2020 Coco Gauff of the U.S. celebrates during her first round match against Britain’s Johanna Konta REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
via Reuters
Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – September 27, 2020 Coco Gauff of the U.S. celebrates during her first round match against Britain’s Johanna Konta REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
The Italian Open 2021 has reached its pre-quarterfinals and fans witnessed a really exciting contest. In an epic encounter, rising star Coco Gauff thrashed World No.4 Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets. The final scoreline of the match was 7-5, 6-3. With this, Gauff has also managed to earn a ticket to the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters 2021.
Set-1: Coco Gauff breaks twice to win a close set
Interestingly, Coco Gauff stunned Aryna Sabalenka as she broke in the very first game. She didn’t lose her momentum and gained an early 2-0 lead over Sabalenka. However, Sabalenka bounced back and reduced the margin to 2-1 at the end of the third game. After this, the one who served continued to win until the match reached its 8th game.
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Oddly satisfying 🪞#IBI21 pic.twitter.com/5txt8MRcsn
— wta (@WTA) May 13, 2021
It was here that World No.4 Sabalenka broke and leveled the scoreline to 4-4. She won the next game too and was now leading at 5-4. However, Gauff showed some fighting spirit, won the next game, and then broke in the 11th game to take her lead to 6-5.
Serving for the set, Gauff won 5 back-to-back points and thus won the set, 7-5.
Just the 2nd player in two months to take the opening set off Sabalenka 😎
🇺🇸 @CocoGauff leads the No.7 seed, 7-5.#IBI21 pic.twitter.com/dSgXj8D5MM
— wta (@WTA) May 13, 2021
Set-2: Game, Set, Match for Gauff
USA Today via Reuters
Mar 25, 2021; Miami, Florida, USA; Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus hits a forehand against Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria (not pictured) in the second round of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Sabalenka came back hard on Gauff this time and after delivering some great serves; she clinched the first game easily to establish an early 1-0 lead over Gauff. However, the 17-year-old struck back and equalized the scoreline on the next game. The same story continued and the scoreline soon became 2-2.
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Stepping IN 🚶♀️@CocoGauff | #IBI21 pic.twitter.com/8GBhcL2fDI
— wta (@WTA) May 13, 2021
Gauff earned 2 break-points in the next game but failed to capitalize on either one of them. As a result, Sabalenka once again took the lead at 3-2. But Gauff didn’t let Sabalenka take control of the match and leveled the scoreline yet again in the next game.
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Finally, Gauff broke in the seventh game and was leading 4-4 at this moment. She was just two games away from entering into the quarters of the Italian Open 2021. She didn’t waste much time and won the next game as well to extend her lead to 5-3.
Gauff broke again in the 9th game. With this, she conquered the set 6-3, and thus won the match as well.
