(Montreal) American Coco Gauff easily advanced to the third round of the National Bank Tennis Open on Wednesday, knocking out qualifier Katie Boulter in two identical sets 6-2, 6-2.
In her first outing in Montreal this week, three days after her Washington tournament triumph, Gauff took just 73 minutes to eliminate the Briton, who had beaten Canadian Rebecca Marino in the first round on Monday night.
She did this despite only having a 42% success rate on the first serve. Despite this, the talented 19-year-old American faced just two break points — she lost one — and herself broke five in 11 chances.
Gauff, the No. 7 player in the world, didn’t take long to win, winning the first four games of the match in just 13 minutes. A quarter of an hour later, Gauff had completed the initial round.
Boulter offered better resistance in the second set, but Gauff, a player who excels on hard courts, maintained her superiority and ended the duel with her fifth break of the clash.
In the round of 16, Gauff will face the winner of the match to be announced later on Wednesday between Czech Marketa Vondrousova, the ninth seed and Wimbledon Open champion, and Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki.
This third day of main draw activity could be spectacular, with the tournament’s main headliners in action, starting with world number one Iga Swiatek.
The 22-year-old Polish, visiting Montreal for the very first time, faces Czech Karolina Pliskova to kick off the day’s program on center court.
In the evening, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, ranked second in the world, will play her first match of the tournament, against Croatian Petra Martic, also on center court.
In addition, in the middle of the afternoon, Laval’s Leylah Fernandez, the only Canadian still in the running, will try to extend her career as she battles Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, 11th seed.
