Coco Gauff takes down Wimbledon champion Rybakina in Montreal

WTA
Wednesday, 10 August 2022 at 20:03
Copyright ProShots 17679800

Coco Gauff took down reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in two straight sets 6-4 6-7(8) 7-6(3) in Toronto.

It was a very important match for both players as neither arrived in high spirits to Toronto. Both played in San Jose last week but Rybakina suffered an early round one exit to Kasatkina while Coco Gauff threw away a solid lead over Badosa. Gauff is trying to secure a top 10 debut next week and this win gets her closer to that goal as well leaving her in the event.

Gauff has high expectations of this US Open stretch and this win is a huge confidence booster for the young American. The first few games of the match looked comfortable for both and it was Rybakina who forced some early break points. Gauff held on and started to find better ways to handle Rybakina's groundstrokes that put Coco under a lot of pressure.

The American broke Rybakina not long after that and cruised to a comfortable 6-4 opening set finish. The saving grace for the American was Rybakina's inconsistent serving. When the Kazakh player hit her first serve she dropped only one point but when she didn't Gauff had a chance. Rybakina served even worse in the 2nd set as the percentage was even lower.

Despite all of that Rybakina was able to force a tiebreak in the 2nd set and actually win it. It was an impressive comeback as she was down 3-6 and Gauff had four match points before losing it 8-10. After not seeing a single break point in the 2nd set, the fans saw six breaks in 9 games played. Eventually, the madness ended in a tiebreak with Gauff prevailing an hour after squandering 3 match points.

claps 1visitors 3704

Just In

Popular News