Photo Source:TC
In trouble early against rising 18-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, Coco Guaff went hunting.
She tracked down what she was looking for and came home with the win, a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 win to set a third-round clash with Poland’s Magda Linette.
Mboko was 33-3 across all levels heading into the match, and Gauff came away very impressed with the effort of the former junior World No.6.
“I definitely feel like I have the advantage with experience on tour in the big moments. I knew maybe I had that going for me,” 2024 semifinalist Gauff said after improving to 13-5 lifetime at Rome. “I think she's pretty composed herself. I wouldn't say that I feel like a vet. I didn't feel like she was out there frustrated or anything. I think she was playing composed tennis.”
The pair met at the net and Gauff gave Mboko some short and sweet words of advice: “Keep your head up, you’re doing great,” she told her. “At the end of the match, she probably lost with more grace than I ever did at her age,” Gauff said of the World No.156.
See more Friday’s women’s singles results from Rome round two below:
Elena Rybakina beat Eva Lys: 7-6 (3), 6-2 Leylah Fernandez (24) beat Antonia Ruzic (Q): 6-4, 6-0 Emma Navarro (10) beat Kamilla Rakhimova (LL): 6-1, 6-3 Marta Kostyuk beat Daria Kasatkina (14): 6-4, 6-2 Emma Raducanu beat Jil Teichmann (LL): 6-2, 6-2 Mirra Andreeva (7) beat Emiliana Arango (Q): 6-2, 6-4 Veronika Kudermetova beat Amanda Anisimova (15): 7-6 (5), 7-5 Linda Noskova (30) beat Sonay Kartal: 6-4, 6-2 Qinwen Zheng (8) beat Olga Danilovic: 6-1, 6-4 Magdalena Frech (26) beat Victoria Azarenka: 7-5, 6-4 Clara Tauson (22) beat Katie Volynets (Q): 7-5, 4-1 ret. Magda Linette (32) beat Maria Sakkari (Q): 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 Sofia Kenin (31) beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: 6-3, 6-0 Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Anastasia Potapova: 6-2, 6-2 Laura Siegemund (LL) beat Lucia Bronzetti: 6-2, 6-2 Marie Bouzkova beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (18): 6-0, 6-3 Madison Keys (5) beat Varvara Gracheva: 7-6 (4), 6-1 Elina Svitolina (16) beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro: 6-4, 7-6 (2) Jessica Pegula (3) beat Ashlyn Krueger: 6-4, 6-2 Hailey Baptiste (Q) beat Liudmila Samsonova (19): 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 Danielle Collins (29) beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Q): 6-3, 6-3 Jasmine Paolini (6) beat Lulu Sun: 6-4, 6-3