American tennis prodigy, Coco Gauff is set for a rematch with Japan’s Hawaii-born Naomi Osaka at this year’s Australian Open, after the latter kept herself on course into the third round of the ongoing competition in Melbourne, in spite of a tossed racquet in the process, megasportsarena.com gathered.
The defending women’s singles champion defeated Saisai Zheng 6-2, 6-4 on day three of the tournament but not without some second set theatrics, and railing 2-1 in the set, Osaka gave up the advantage point to Zheng and reacted by throwing the racquet down, smashing the ball into the court and then kicking her racquet toward the net.
The fourth-ranked player in the world tied it at 2-2, but lost the next two games to fall behind again. She rattled off four in a row to advance and had 20 winners to Zheng’s seven, but 30 unforced errors to her opponent’s 20.
Osaka, the defending champion from last year Down Under, mathematically can not move back into the No. 1 ranking, even though she was asked about it after the match and gave an endearing answer.
It took until the very end, but American sensation Coco Gauff survived to reach the third round on Wednesday.
Gauff, after dropping the first set, rallied back to beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to reach the third round and set up a rematch with Osaka.
Gauff got out to a slow start in the third set, falling into a 3-0 hole. The 15-year-old, though, quickly tied the set up 3-3 and never let Cirstea pull ahead — even when the Romanian was two points from winning on multiple occasions.
Gauff will now get a rematch in the third round, a rematch of their U.S. Open bout in September, which Osaka won handily in straight sets, but the other lass is ready to exert her revenge this time out.
“[It was] just my will to win,” Gauff said, via the Associated Press. “My parents, they always told me I can come back, no matter what the score is. I know what to expect. I’m ready for a good match.”
In another game in midweek, it looked like Caroline Wozniacki’s run in Melbourne was going to come to an end on Wednesday
Wozniacki, the former World No. 1, quickly fell into a 5-1 hole in her match against No. 23 Dayana Yastremska in her second round match at Margaret Court Arena, and looked to be out of the match.
Yet two hours later, Wozniacki was still standing tall, as the 29-year-old rallied all the way back, and then stuck ahead in the second set to knock off Yastremska 7-5, 7-5 and advance to the third round.
