Coco Gauff moved into the third round of the Guadalajara Open on Wednesday with a 7-6(1), 6-3 win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto. Gauff needed an hour and 47 minutes to complete the win. The win backed up the American’s qualifying for the WTA Finals in Texas next week.
Gauff converted four breaks on Cocciaretto’s serve while dropping her serve twice in the match. Gauff’s next opponent will be Cocciaretto’s compatriot, Martina Trevisan. Trevisan won her second-round match against Katerina Siniakova 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
Gauff’s doubles partner and fellow American, Jessica Pegula also advanced to the third round. The third seed notched a comeback victory over Elena Rybakina 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(8) after two hours and five minutes of play. Pegula won 80% of her first-serve points to Rybakina’s 73%.
She also saved four of the eight break points she faced while converting three break points on the Kazakh’s serve. Next up for Pegula will be Bianca Andreescu.
Guadalajara Open: Big names make their way out
There were three significant upsets in the second round.
First up, tournament top seed Paula Badosa had to exit the event after having to retire mid-match due to illness in the opening round. Badosa who played Victoria Azarenka stopped the match after the latter won the first set 6-2.
After the result, Azarenka shared wishes for Badosa’s recovery. She said, “You never want anybody to retire, we go out here to compete and do our best. It’s really sad that Paula wasn’t able to finish the match.
I hope she recovers quickly. I’m sure we’re going to have a few more matches to play, so I’m looking forward to those”. Badosa’s leaving the event also meant an end to her hopes of qualifying for the season finale.
Second seed Aryna Sabalenka also suffered an upset at the hands of Liudmila Samsonova. Samsonova pushed Sabalenka out of the Mexican event with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 win after two hours and 14 minutes of play. Lastly, Sloane Stephens posted the third-biggest upset at the Guadalajara Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win over 10th-seeded Belinda Bencic.
Bencic’s loss also ensured that she won’t play the year-ending event while Sabalenka’s hopes to play in Texas haven’t been vanquished despite her loss.
