Gauff rallies past Baptiste to reach Australian Open last 16
Coco Gauff overcame early serving issues and the loss of the opening set to defeat fellow American Hailey Baptiste, booking her place in the last 16 of the Australian Open on Friday.
The third seed recovered to claim a 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory and will next face 19th seed Karolína Muchová for a spot in the quarter-finals, News.Az reports, citing AFP.
The 21-year-old Gauff, a two-time Grand Slam champion, has yet to advance beyond the semi-finals at Melbourne Park, making the Australian Open the only major where she has not reached a final.
“I did not change too much, I tried to get more first serves in,” Gauff said in her on-court interview, reflecting on how she responded after again struggling with her serve in the opening set.
“I was not too upset,” she added after dropping the first set. “I just said, if she plays like this all match and I cannot raise my level, fair play to her. But I was able to raise my level.”
During the match, Gauff also took issue with a spectator who appeared to make a derogatory comment about Baptiste.
“Hailey is a great competitor,” Gauff said. “So to the guy that made that comment, we are all doing our best out here.”
Gauff had made the best possible start, breaking her 70th-ranked compatriot's serve in the first game of the match at a sun-bathed Margaret Court Arena.
But Gauff's serve is her Achilles' heel and she double-faulted twice in her opening service game to gift the 24-year-old Baptiste the break back.
Gauff's wobbles continued in losing the first set, and a major upset was on the cards.
But the 2025 French Open and 2023 US Open champion came out a totally different player in the second set, racing into a 3-0 lead in 13 minutes.
She sealed the set 6-0 in 35 minutes and in contrast to the first set, when she made four double-faults, was far more solid on serve.
Baptiste, playing in the third round at Melbourne Park for the first time, started wilting under the barrage of Gauff's returns.
Her error count also rose sharply as Gauff sensed victory in the final set and once she was broken again for 4-2, the world number three never looked back.
By Nijat Babayev
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