Melbourne, Jan 23 (IANS) World No. 3 American Coco Gauff was forced to raise her level in her third-round meeting with compatriot Hailey Baptiste before securing a 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 win to enter the fourth round of the Australian Open here on Friday.
This is her 77th Grand Slam match win, which came in her 100th Major match. Only Venus Williams (85) and Iga Swiatek (83) have more wins in their first 100 Grand Slam matches among active players, while Aryna Sabalenka also had 77 when reaching this milestone.
Gauff is the ninth player in the Open Era to appear in their 100th women’s singles Grand Slam main-draw match before turning 22, joining the elite company of Mary Joe Fernandez, Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis, Gabriela Sabatini, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Venus Williams.
Baptiste's forehand was an early problem for Gauff, producing six of 12 winners from her right side to take the first set 6-3. However, the 21-year-old American quickly wrestled back momentum with a second set bagel to force a decider, the 11th 6-0 set of her Grand Slam career. Only Swiatek (32) has more since Gauff’s debut in 2019, while Sabalenka is level with her at 11.
In the decider, Gauff and Baptiste traded holds through five games before Gauff broke for 4-2. As she had throughout the last two sets, she leaned on her forehand to carry her across the finish line and into the Round of 16.
As she aims to maintain her strong record at the Australian Open, Gauff will battle the No. 19 seed and AO 2021 semifinalist Muchova for a place in her third straight AO quarterfinal.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Iva Jovic caused the major upset of the tournament so far with a 6-2, 7-6(3) third-round defeat of No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini. The win put No. 29 seed Jovic into the second week of a major for the first time at just her sixth attempt. It's also her first win over a Top 10 player in four meetings.
--IANS
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