"She's a great person and always nice to me": Coco Gauff praises Danielle Collins after Montreal epic

Coco Gauff spoke about her relationship with Danielle Collins after a hard-fought victory that was decided after almost 3 hours in a third-set tie-break. The 21-year-old American was particularly imprecise on serve, tallying a total of 23 double faults, but she survived by being more effective in crucial moments.

In fact, both players struggled with their serve. Collins herself hit 13 double faults in a match marked by inaccuracies and unforced errors from both sides. Both had only 55% first serves in and won less than 35% of points on their second serve. The match ended 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(2) in Gauff's favor, with 9 breaks for each player.

It was a highly anticipated second-round match. Collins – currently world No. 61 – is undoubtedly a formidable name on the Tour, as a former top-10 player and Grand Slam finalist, having also won her first WTA 1000 title at the Miami Open just a year ago. Against a Gauff who has struggled with rhythm on hardcourts so far, Collins was expected to be a tough challenge.

Collins, 32, is a player with extensive experience and many years on Tour. According to Gauff, she has always been kind to her and Gauff had the opportunity to get to know her better when they teamed up for the United Cup earlier this season, where USA won the title, defeating Poland in the final.

"This is my first time playing Danielle [Collins], I know her very well," she said. "She is obviously a tough competitor and great tennis player, great person. I got to know her really well at the United Cup, and she is always nice to me," Gauff mentioned after the match.

The American No. 1 had to fight extra hard to secure the victory. In the third set, she held a break advantage for much of the time, but Collins managed to come back. 'Danimal' got a break that put her up 6-5 and had the opportunity to serve for the match, but Gauff managed to break back and send everything to a tie-break. The rest is history; the two-time Grand Slam champion showed her class in the decisive moments and avoided a major upset at the start of the tournament where she is the first seed.

"It was a tough battle out there," the world No. 2 added. "Making serves into the court was the toughest challenge. Maybe if I cut that in half, it would be a quicker match for me. I thought that I was playing well except for that part of my game, but I felt like off the ground, I was doing pretty well."

"Danielle is a great ball striker, and for me to break her as many times as I did, there were definitely some positives to take from today. I definitely have a lot left in the tank," she said.

"It was a frustrating match for me. I just felt like I was practicing well, and then I didn’t think that transferred today," Coco mentioned during the press conference. "Hopefully, I got my bad match of the tournament out of the way, and I can come back stronger in the next round."

In the third round, she will face another former top-10 player: Russia's Veronika Kudermetova, who seems to be slowly rediscovering her good level of play after a couple of seasons filled with inconsistent results. The Russian defeated qualifier Cristina Bucsa in the first round, while having no trouble against 29th seed Olga Danilovic in straight sets in the second round.