Coco Gauff wins first match since Australian Open exit

Coco Gauff played her first match since the Australian Open and it was a good effort against Petra Kvitova win the American winning 6-3 7-6(6).

Gauff started the year really well by winning a trophy in her first week of competitive play. She followed that up with a solid outing in Australia losing to Ostapenko which was a surprise. She admitted to feeling very disappointed about it but underlined the need to work more and improve. It seems like she did just that as today's display was pretty solid.

Facing Kvitova in Doha is not easy because she's been really good at the event in the past. Having also played one match before gave her an advantage but none of it mattered. Gauff opened the set well holding her serve without any issues. She stayed patient and used her first break point to take the lead and win the set 6-3.

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The best thing for Gauff is that she didn't allow a single break point in the first set as she has a history of losing her serve when she shouldn't. The second set was a bit more complicated as she allowed a break point this time around but also saved it. Kvitova didn't allow any and we ended up in a tiebreak which Gauff won 8-6.