Coco Gauff hopes to ‘come back stronger’ in her next match at the National Bank Open after beginning her campaign with a roller-coaster win over Danielle Collins.
The top seed was on court for almost three hours before ousting Collins 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(2). Gauff, who was playing her first match since losing in the first round at Wimbledon, struggled with her serve and ended up hitting 23 double faults. She was particularly vulnerable behind her second serve, in which she won 17 out of 53 points played.
“It was a frustrating match for me just because I felt like I was practicing well and then I don’t think I transferred it,” The AFP news agency quoted Gauff as saying after the match.
“But hopefully I got my bad match of the tournament out of the way and I can come back stronger in the next round.”
Both players were broken nine times during the match, which ended with Gauff winning five points in a row in the tiebreaker.
“It was a tough battle out there,” she said. “Making serves in the court was the toughest challenge. Maybe if I cut that in half it could be a quicker match for me. I thought I was playing well, except for that part of my game.”
Gauff is a three-time quarter-finalist at the National Bank Open, which alternates between Montreal and Toronto each year. So far this season, her biggest success has been on the clay, where she won her second Grand Slam title at the French Open. She was also runner-up at WTA 1000 events in Rome and Madrid.
Gauff will next play Veronika Kudermetova, who knocked out 29th seed Olga Danilović in her latest match.
The American has a win-loss record of 32-10 so far this year and is 13-2 against players ranked outside the top 50.
