Coco GAUFF overcomes resistance from Elisabetta COCCIARETTO to progress in Dubai Duty Free Championships

Coco Gauff (No. 3) faced the challenge and dispatched Elisabetta Cocciaretto (No. 58) with a score of 6-1, 7-5 in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. The American was superior to her opponent for much of the match but gave opportunities in the second set that complicated the encounter.

World No. 3 returned to victory after the disappointing exit in the debut of the Qatar Open and faces an important defense of points for the semifinals of Dubai 2023 this week. Her next opponent will be the former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova.

In the first set, Gauff performed better on the return than on the serve, with just a 45% first serve percentage, winning 77% of them and 44% with her service. However, the young American managed to win 70% of the return points, making it impossible for the Italian to play comfortably with her service.

The first break came in favor of Gauff in the second game, although Cocciaretto quickly recovered it in the next game. With a 2-1 advantage for Gauff, there was a streak of seven consecutive games in her favor, including four breaks, allowing her to take the first set 6-1 and start the second with a quick 3-0 lead.

The match seemed practically sealed with a two-break advantage for Gauff, noting that her opponent had only held her service once during the match. Cocciaretto pressured Gauff's second serve and took a break that gave her a breather in the set.

The Italian won her next service game, and then a series of breaks from both sides came, preventing the score from tilting. Gauff was serving at 5-4 but couldn't close the set at that moment. After securing another break in her favor, the American was 6-5, and this time she did capitalize on the advantage, winning her service for the first time after four consecutive breaks against her.

The match ended 6-1, 7-5 in favor of the 19-year-old, who suffered 5 breaks in 9 service games, numbers she will need to improve when facing one of the best servers in recent years, former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova (No. 36), in the Dubai round of 16.