Coco Gauff squandered an enormous lead and misplaced the final 5 video games of her 6-7(8), 7-5, 6-2 loss to Anastasia Potapova within the third spherical of the Miami Open.
No. 6 seed Gauff, a 19-year-old from close by Florida, later criticized herself, saying her footwork was poor, her mindset was poor and he or she performed too defensively after serving for the win. 5-3 within the second set on Saturday.
This 12 months I’m messing up in all my matches like this. I really feel misplaced due to the whole lot I’ve misplaced. I believe it needs to be used extra as a instrument within the toolbox slightly than a weapon,” Gauff said. “I believe I’ve to vary my mindset within the recreation to not depend on it an excessive amount of as a result of I Guess generally I play a bit too passive as a result of I do know I can get to the balls.” She greeted the audience with “Let’s go, Coco!” on the hard-court match as she received the opening set 5-2. , then erased a pair of set factors for Potapova in that tiebreaker. Gauff took the set with a cross-court backhand winner on her second likelihood.
The 2022 French Open runner-up then seemed to drag again, going forward 5-3 within the second set. But Gauff eased up and Potapova went backwards and forwards in her lengthy baseline runs and have become extra aggressive, taking 4 consecutive video games on a sunny afternoon because the temperature topped 80 °F (nearer to 30 °C).
When twenty seventh seed Potapova pressured a 3rd set with a backhand winner, she dropped her racket, clenched each fists, leaned ahead and screamed.
“It was a very tough match. It was very physical and there was a lot of heat,” Potapova mentioned. “I was trying to stay calm and just fight for every point and not think about the score, especially in the second set.” Gauff briefly went forward 2–1 within the deciding set, however didn’t maintain one other recreation. She wound up with 34 unforced errors in comparison with 20 winners – and was damaged six occasions in a match that lasted greater than 2 1/2 hours.
Gough mentioned, “My mind wasn’t quite right today.”
When Gauff fired a backhand return into the online towards seeded opponents this season and trailed 1-5, Potapova lined her mouth along with her hand and shook her head. She has beforehand gone 0-2 towards Gauff, however will now face No. 23 Zheng Qinwen within the fourth spherical.
Zheng defeated No. 12 Lyudmila Samsonova 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3. Other outcomes included No. 3 Jessica Pegula’s 6-1, 7-6(0) win over No. 30 Danielle Collins; No. 20 Magda Linette’s 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-4 win over three-time Miami Open champion Victoria Azarenka; and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko’s 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win towards No. 13 Beatriz Haddad Maia.
In males’s motion, No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Australian Open runner-up, is coming off a loss in his opening match at Indian Wells in California this month when Richard Gasquet withdrew earlier than he was scheduled to play. an injured ankle. This meant that Tsitsipas, who was given a bye like all seeded gamers, reached his third-round matchup with qualifier Christian Garin on the Miami Open with out taking part in a degree.
Garin defeated No. 27 Sébastien Baez 7–6(2), 6–3 in what was considered one of a number of males’s second-round encounters through which a seeded participant misplaced. Quentin Helles may barely beat No. 15 Alex de Minaur 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8); Jiri Lehka beat No. 18 Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-4; Mackenzie McDonald beat No. 19 Matteo Berretini 7-6 (8), 7-6 (5); Lorenzo Sonego beat No. 23 Dan Evans 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Alex Molken beat No. 28 Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-2; And 119th-ranked American qualifier Christopher Eubanks beat Twentieth-ranked Borna Coric 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 for his first profession win over a prime 50 man.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
