No. 1 seed Coco Gauff of the United States is getting back to her winning ways, after she toughed out another three-set victory over a former Top 10 player at the Omnium Banque Nationale on Thursday.
Montreal: Draws | Scores | Order of play
World No. 2 Gauff fought back from a set and a break down to notch a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Veronika Kudermetova and reach the Round of 16 for the fifth consecutive edition of this tournament.
Picking up wins again: After Gauff won her second Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros in June, she suffered a two-match winless blip, losing her opening contests at Berlin and Wimbledon. In her first match this week, she needed a third-set tiebreak to squeak past former World No. 7 Danielle Collins.
Former World No. 9 Kudermetova also gave Gauff a stern test, but this time, the American dominated the third set after coming back from her one-set deficit. Gauff is now a win away from making her fourth Omnium Banque Nationale quarterfinal in her five tournament appearances.
Tale of the match: On Thursday, Gauff saw a 4-1 first-set lead slip away, and at 4-4, 40-15, the American lost five of the next eight points with double faults. Kudermetova took advantage, firing strong groundstroke winners from both wings as she wrapped up the set.
Three more Gauff double faults in the opening game of the second set gave Kudermetova a hefty set-and-a-break lead, but the typically gritty Gauff started to turn the match around as the set progressed. Gauff was able to pull back level by breaking for 3-3 with a forehand return winner.
Gauff was not out of the woods just yet, and she had to save break points in both her 4-4 and 5-5 service games, barely denying Kudermetova chances to serve for a straight-sets win. But the American did scrape to 6-5, at which point Kudermetova blinked, slamming a backhand smash into the net to give Gauff the second set.
After that, Gauff took charge, breaking Kudermetova at love for a 2-0 lead in the decider.
More to come…