Coco Gauff
continues her excellent form at the beginning of the season, claiming a
significant victory at the
ASB Classic over
Brenda Fruhvirtova with a scoreline
of 6-3, 6-0. The young American secured her second consecutive win and
progressed to the quarterfinals in Auckland, where she will face the winner of
the match between
Lulu Sun (qualifier) and Varvara Gracheva (8th seed).
Despite
being only 19 years old, Gauff can already be considered an experienced player
on the WTA Tour, having embarked on her professional journey six years ago.
Currently ranked world No. 3 and with several titles in her career, Gauff
rarely faces opponents younger than her. This time, the 16-year-old Czech
player Brenda Fruhvirtova (ranked 117th) was her adversary.
Fruhvirtova
is rapidly approaching the top 100 and is seen as one of the rising stars in
women's tennis in the coming years. In this instance, she advanced from the
tournament's qualifying rounds and caused an upset in the first round by
defeating Russian Anna Blinkova (46th) with a score of 7-5, 6-4. On Gauff's
side, she entered the quarterfinals after a swift victory over Claire Liu by
6-4, 6-2.
In the
first set of the match, the Czech player demonstrated that she possesses the
level required for elite competition, securing the first break in the third
game to take a 2-1 lead. Gauff strategically played to Fruhvirtova's backhand
and successfully won the next four games in a row, including two breaks.
Although Fruhvirtova managed to hold her serve again, Gauff ultimately closed
the set 6-3.
In the
second set, Gauff exhibited improved mobility and precision in her shots,
outclassing the Czech player. Fruhvirtova struggled to keep up with the North
American in rallies, especially facing challenges with her service. She only
managed a 35% first serve accuracy, winning 33% of those points, and a mere 18%
with her second serve.
Gauff
claimed the six games consecutively without facing much pressure until the end
of the match, achieving a commanding result of 6-3, 6-0 over Fruhvirtova in
just 1 hour and 9 minutes. The 2023 US Open champion won 63% of the points
played in the match, despite not performing at her absolute best.
The
American had a first serve accuracy of only 55%, though it proved sufficient to
prevent the Czech player from posing any significant challenges during returns.
Gauff will face the winner of the match between Lulu Sun (qualifier) and
Varvara Gracheva (8th seed) in the quarterfinals.