MELBOURNE – Coco Gauff didn’t make it easy on herself in her first-round match at an Australian Open tuneup event on Monday.
The 16-year-old American was up a service break in the second set and looked ready for straight-sets win until Jil Teichmann won the second-set tiebreaker.
The players then went to a deciding-set tiebreaker before Gauff won 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5) at the WTA’s Gippsland Trophy. “All the training I did in the off-season meant that I could go three tough sets,“ Gauff said on court after the match.
In another match at the same tournament, Australian Destanee Aiava beat Chloe Paquet 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 after saving 14 of 15 break points.