MELBOURNE, Australia — Coco Gauff stretched her unbeaten begin to 2025 to seven matches and 14 units by shifting into the third spherical on the Australian Open with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over 173rd-ranked Jodie Burrage of Britain in Rod Laver Area on Wednesday.
Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion and a semifinalist at Melbourne Park a 12 months in the past, went via a little bit of a tough patch within the second set, fighting double faults and dropping 4 video games in a row to go from a break up at 3-1 to a break down at 5-3.
However when Burrage served for the second set, Gauff bought again in management, utilizing a four-game run of her personal to finish the competition.
“It was robust. She was serving rather well, so I used to be simply making an attempt to handle that, truthfully,” the No. 3-seeded Gauff stated. “She actually stepped her stage up in the midst of the second set, so I used to be simply making an attempt to be offensive after I might.”
Gauff hit six of her seven double faults within the second set, however was far steadier on the baseline total, ending the 1½-hour match with 11 groundstroke unforced errors, in comparison with 37 for Burrage.
Every of Burrage’s last two service video games ended with a double-fault; there have been two in a row that made it 6-5.
From there, Gauff completed the job as she continues to attempt to discover enhancements along with her serve and forehand, two pictures she has been specializing in since late final season.
“She was returning nicely, so it put strain on me on my serve,” Gauff stated. “If I landed something quick, she was touchdown a winner.”
Add in 4 wins in a row en path to the title on the WTA Finals in November — together with straight-sets victories over No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek — and Gauff’s profitable streak is now at 11 matches.
A part of that run was a win on the United Cup workforce competitors in opposition to the 20-year-old American’s subsequent opponent: No. 30 Leylah Fernandez, who was the runner-up to Emma Raducanu on the 2021 US Open.
Fernandez got here again to defeat Cristina Bucsa 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday.
