Paris : The American teenager Coco Gauff moved through to the last 16 in the French Open with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-4 win over the Estonian veteran Kaia Kanepi, here on Friday.
Kanepi, who at nearly 37 is twice Gauff’s age, was bidding for her second win over a seeded player this fortnight, having beaten No.10 seed Garbine Muguruza in the first round, but No.18 seed Gauff had little trouble in the 83-minute victory.
For a spot in the quarterfinals, Gauff will face No.31 seed Elise Mertens, who was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Varvara Gracheva.
After dropping serve to start the match, Gauff won five straight games and rode early leads through to her second career victory against the big-hitting Kanepi.
The 18-year-old Gauff avoided a pitfall in the opener from 5-1 up and also won four of the last five games in the second set after Kanepi recovered from an early break behind.
Angelique Kerber of Germany came into the French Open on a winning streak, having won the WTA 250 titles in Strasbourg, in the days prior to the tournament’s start.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich scored her second win against a Grand Slam champion this fortnight in a 6-4, 7-6(5) upset of No.21 seed Kerber.
Sasnovich lost to Kerber in three sets last week during the latter’s title-winning run in Strasbourg, but she didn’t need to go the distance to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career. Broken to start the match, and twice in the second set, Sasnovich recovered each time.
Italy’s Trevisan extended her winning streak to eight with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Australian wildcard Daria Saville, who upset No.32 seed and two-time major-winner Petra Kvitova in Round 2.
“Today was very special. I never played with a crowd like this. … when I was playing, I heard a lot of Martina, Martina, and it gave me a lot of energy,” Trevisan was quoted as saying by the WTA website.
–IANS
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