Third seeds Coco Gauff produced the second double bagel in its WTA tour career and turned off US compatriot Sofia Kenin 6-0, 6-0 on Thursday in the second round of the Miami Open.
The only other 6-0, 6-0 victory for Gauff came on Madrid 2024 against the Netherlands Arantxa Rus.
Gauff came in this week after losing four of his last six matches, a run that started with a defeat in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. She dropped her opening match on both Doha, Qatar and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, was then eliminated in the round of 16 on Indian Wells, Calif.
These fighters disappeared on Thursday, when Gauff finished her day’s work in 47 minutes.
“I definitely played well today, and maybe (Kenin) didn’t play his top Great Tennis,” Gauff said. “I don’t think anyone playing their best tennis will have that result line today, so I won’t say she played her best tennis.
“I think it was a combination of playing really well, it was really good tennis from me, and maybe she didn’t play so well.”
Gauff said about his latest fights, “I know where I personally stand in my game. Yes, it has not been up to my standards, but at the same time, you know, we are only Mars and our season ends in November. There is a lot of time to improve.
“Today I didn’t go in with it in my mind. It just happened to be a good day for me.”
Next up for Gauff will be 28-seeded Maria Sakkari from Greece, which edged Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Thursday.
In other rounds, top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus had no problems beating Bulgaria’s Victoriaa Tomova 6-3, 6-0.
Sabalenka aims to shake defeat in the championship matches at the Australian Open and Indian Wells.
“I can’t complain about my season,” she said. “Of course, I (the) lost two biggest finals. But it’s just a lesson, not so much loss, to be honest. I feel my tennis gets better every day.
“Of course Miami, there is only one thing that everyone wants here is to win the title. I really hope I can play the same way I played at Indian Wells and improve in the final. Get better a bit the last stages of the tournament, maybe less stressed and more focused on myself. Let’s just take it step by step.”
Japan’s Naomi Osaka threw 24-seeded Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 6-4, with the Russian one of many seeded players to fall.
The US Ashlyn Krueger beat the seventh-seeded Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, while Hailey Baptiste in the United States upset 12 Maia of Brazil 6-0, 6-2.
Poland Magda Linette took down the 18-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova from Russia 7-6 (5), 6-2, and the US Taylor Townsend sent 19th-seeded Yulia Putintseva in Kazakhstan 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-1. Switzerland’s Rebeka Masarova bounced 21st Seeded Donna Vekic from Croatia 6-1, 6-3 and Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse Best 29-seeded Maging Magingen Frech from Poland 6-4, 6-4.
Also advanced was the ninth-seeded qinwen zheng in China, sixth-seeded Jasmine Paolini from Italy, 26-seeded Leylah Fernandez in Canada and 31-seeded Wed Jabeur from Tunisia.
-Field level media
