Coco Gauff dug deep to overcome Solana Sierra 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7) in the Wimbledon second round, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka survived a stern test from McCartney Kessler, winning 6-1, 7-6 (9) on Wednesday.
Gauff recovers from brink of defeat
Gauff, seeded seventh, was twice within two points of defeat against the Argentine, who beat Emma Raducanu at Roland Garros last month and reached the last 16 here last year. Sierra led 5-3, 30-30 in the final set and then 5-4, 30-30, but Gauff broke back and then recovered from 7-4 down in the deciding tie-break to snatch victory.
“I’m happy and proud of myself,” Gauff said, adding she had recalled the words of her coach, who tells her to remember who she is, that she is good at breaking serve.
The American said the memories of her win over Venus Williams seven years ago are still fresh. “Every time I walk down this hallway [by Centre Court], I get deja vu,” she said. “I remind myself if I could do that [seven] years ago I’m definitely a better player now so I definitely can do it now.”
Sabalenka channels Nadal
Aryna Sabalenka channelled her inner Rafael Nadal to get herself out of trouble in the second set of her 6-1, 7-6 (9) victory over McCartney Kessler. The American had four set points to extend it to a decider, but the top seed stood firm to set up a third-round match with former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.
Sabalenka breezed through the first set, but Kessler found her game in the second, mixing up big backhands down the line with a fine net game, even serving and volleying on occasion. She led 5-2 and then had two set points on serve at 5-3, but Sabalenka came up with two blistering backhand winners to get back on serve.
In the tie-break, Kessler led 7-6 and 8-7, but Sabalenka held on to extend her winning record in grand slam tie-breaks to 21.
When she needs inspiration, she knows where to look. “I watched the Nadal documentary,” she said, referring to the Netflix programme released last month. “He said: ‘The only thing you can control is your focus and motivation.’ It really sticks deep inside of me.”
“Sometimes now during matches, whenever things are going wrong, I’m like, the only thing you can control is focus and motivation. That was very strong.”
“On the tie-break, I’m willing to focus point by point, not going really too far in the future or staying too much in the past. That’s been really working well. I’m free. I trust my shots on the tie-break. That really makes a big difference.”
Other results
The fourth seed, Jessica Pegula, defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo 7-6 (6), 6-1, while the 10th seed Karolina Muchova, the winner of the warm-up tournament in Bad Homburg, eased past Zhang Shuai of China 6-3, 6-2.
