No 7 seed Cori Gauff was feeling the nerves throughout the entire Emma Raducanu match as she was glad that she was able to close out the match in two sets. In what was the first meeting between Gauff and Raducanu, the 18-year-old American defeated the 20-year-old Briton with a 6-3 7-6 (4) score.
“I just told myself to hang in there towards the end. I thought the whole match was great. We both started off rocky, but the match was good quality for the most part considering the circumstances. I can imagine both of us were nervous, this was a long-anticipated match basically since the draw came out.
So, I’m glad it was a good match. When you go into the tournament you have to beat the best. Obviously you hope it’s not the second round, but what can you do? I’m glad both of us handled the pressure pretty well. Kudos to Emma, I know she had a tough week in Auckland, so really good for her for playing at this level after I guess such a scary moment,” Gauff said, per the Australian Open website.
Gauff didn’t allow Raducanu to send the match into a three-setter
Gauff earned the first break of the match in the fourth game, but got broken back immediately in the following game. However, blowing an early break didn’t impact Gauff, who broke Raducanu again in the sixth game for a 4-2 lead.
Up by a break, Gauff held on to her serve for the rest of the first set to clinch the opener. After winning the first set, Gauff broke Raducanu in the third game of the second set. Down by a set and a break, Raducanu refused to quit as she broke back Gauff in the eighth game.
In the 10th game – when Gauff was serving to stay in the second set – she saved two set points to eventually force a tie-break. After saving two set points, Gauff opened a 6-2 lead in the tie-break before converting her third match point to seal a straight-set win. In her next match, Gauff plays Bernarda Pera.
