It’s hard to beat a champion.
Coco Gauff, the reigning U.S. Open champion, was on the ropes all morning long, but she showed a winner’s grit and rallied in the third set for a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Clara Burel of France in a second-round match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Saturday.
Gauff trailed 4-0 and 5-2 in the third set, but finally found the game that had been eluding her. She won three straight games to tie it at 5-5. Both players held serve to force a tiebreaker and Gauff took over, jumping to a 6-2 lead in the tiebreaker and eventually winning it 7-4 when a Burel forehand went long. Gauff let out a roar and pumped a clenched fist after the final point, knowing she had survived a battle.
Having a tough opening-round match isn’t always a harbinger of how a player will do moving forward. Gauff, in fact, said in her experience, it’s often the opposite.
“Honestly in the past, yeah. I mean, the last tournaments I have done well in, usually I have a tough opening first round, especially with the biggest one was the U.S. Open,” Gauff said. “I think for me getting through that match definitely meant a lot. Could have easily thrown in the towel. But honestly, I was just telling myself, like, win or lose, I don’t want to have any regrets on the court. Am I proud of how I played? Not really, to be honest. But the fight, I am proud of.”
Gauff is referencing her opening-round match at the 2023 U.S. Open which was a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over qualifier Laura Siegemund. From that humble beginning, she went on to claim her first Grand Slam title, twice more along the way, winning a match after losing the first set.
Burel, the No. 47-ranked player in the world, was a sneaky tough first-match opponent for Gauff in that she’s shown the ability to come up with an upset like this before. Burel pulled off a similar stunner at the Australian Open in January, beating No. 5-ranked Jessica Pegula in the second round 6-4, 6-2.
Gauff advances to face unseeded Lucia Bronzetti in the third round. Bronzetti beat Anhelina Kalinina 6-3, 6-4. Gauff also made a bit of history Saturday. Her win over Burel was the 50th Masters 1000 victory in her career, the most ever for a teen.
The win didn’t come easy, but she drew energy from the crowd which was decidedly in her favor.
A large gathering at Stadium 1 kept trying to give Gauff a boost as she struggled to find her game Saturday morning. “One point at a time Coco!” or “Take a breath Coco!” they would yell. Just when it seemed like it wasn’t going to happen, she found some resolve.
She heard them, and it helped.
“Yeah, definitely is, like, when playing in the States, 100% you know the crowd is going to be with you unless you’re playing another American,” Gauff said. “They definitely were trying to root me on, especially in the tough moments. I’m glad I was able to come out through at the end.”
First appeared on www.desertsun.com