Staff Reporter.
(AFF) – Coco Gauff’s bid to become the youngest Australian Open champion since 1997 gathered pace Friday with a straight-sets win over fellow American Bernarda Pera.
The 18-year-old won 6-3, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena to set up a last-16 clash against either the 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia or Ukrainian Kateryna Baindl.
A maiden Grand Slam title for seventh seed Gauff would make her the youngest Melbourne champion since a 16-year-old Martina Hingis 26 years ago.
Gauff headed into the first major of the year on a high after winning her third WTA title at the Auckland Classic earlier this month.
She admitted she “got lucky” in her tight second-round victory over Emma Raducanu in a battle of tennis prodigies.
But Gauff let her racquet do the talking in her first meeting with power-hitter Pera, relentlessly soaking up some late pressure from the world number 41 when serving for the match at 5-2.
“She was hitting the ball really hard,” said Gauff, who this week became the first woman to register 100 tour-level wins before her 19th birthday since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009.
“So I was trying to hang in there and take the ground when I could.
“Last season she had a really long match streak so I knew she would be a tough player to beat, so I’m glad to be through to the second week.”
Gauff is one of two teenagers left in the women’s draw. The other is 17-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova, who plays Marketa Vondrousova in an all-Czech third-round clash on Saturday.
PEGULA POWERS INTO KREJCIKOVA LAST-16 SHOWDOWN AT AUSTRALIAN OPEN
World No 3 Jessica Pegula powered into a last-16 Australian Open showdown with former Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova after demolishing Marta Kostyuk 6-0, 6-2 on Friday.
The in-form Pegula has reached the quarterfinals on her last two visits to Melbourne Park and can make it a hat-trick if she beats the 2021 French Open champion on Sunday.
The American third seed needed just 65 minutes to canter past erratic Ukrainian Kostyuk, who committed 39 unforced errors to the consistent Pegula’s nine.
“I thought I didn’t give away a lot of free points. I was playing aggressive when I had to, but also playing smart. So that worked really well,” said Pegula.
“I wasn’t serving great today, but I thought I served smart enough to get myself through some tough games,” added Pegula, who was resilient enough to save eight break points as she dropped her serve just once.
Pegula and Kostyuk had only met on one previous occasion, in Cincinnati last year, with the Ukrainian taking the first set before the American outlasted her 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-2 in 2hr 7min.
There was no chance of a repeat on Friday, Pegula ruthlessly racing to a triple break on her way to taking a first set “bagel”.
Kostyuk did finally trouble the scorers at the start of the second, but it proved to be the only game she won on her own serve as Pegula cruised to victory.
Pegula was instrumental in leading the United States to their United Cup triumph two weeks ago, where she beat top-ranked Iga Swiatek in straight sets in the semifinal.
She will face a tough prospect next in 20th seed Krejcikova, who – like Pegula – is yet to drop a set.
“I’ve watched her quite a bit. She’s had a great last couple of years,” said Pegula of the Czech, who also breezed past a Ukrainian.
Krejcikova beat the 39th-ranked Anhelina Kalinina, 6-2, 6-3 in 1hr 26min on Rod Laver Arena.
“I think with every single match I’m getting better and better,” warned Krejcikova.
“My serve was working really well today, I played really good returns and from the baseline. I played also a very solid game. Today was a really, really great match for me.”