By Karolos Grohmann
PARIS (Reuters) -World number two Coco Gauff came through a shaky second set against Czech Marie Bouzkova to earn a 6-1 7-6(3) victory on Saturday and advance to the French Open last 16.
A semi-finalist in Paris last year, Gauff, who had lost both previous matches against the world number 47, powered into a 3-0 lead, attacking every first serve from her opponent.
The 21-year-old was in complete control and gave Bouzkova no chance in the opening set, firing a superb backhand down the line to earn another break to love and move 5-1 up.
On a sun-drenched afternoon with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees Celsius, Gauff wasted little time, wrapping up the set on her serve when she thundered another stinging backhand winner on her first set point.
In the first set, Gauff won 100% of her first serve points but that was about to change.
The Czech earned consecutive breaks to charge into a 5-3 lead when the 21-year-old American sent the simplest of smashes wide.
The 26-year-old Bouzkova, who worked hard to keep Gauff pinned to the baseline, was 30-0 up on her serve in the next game — two points from landing the second set — before Gauff recovered just in time.
The American, who has now won the most claycourt matches this season (14) along with Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, levelled to force a tiebreak which she dominated.
“She was playing well, putting a lot of balls back in the court (in the second set),” Gauff told a press conference.
“It was difficult but overall happy I how I was able to stay in that.
“In the first set I was playing good. In the second I missed some balls. She put a lot of balls back. Every opponent that plays her struggles with that,” she said.
Gauff will play Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, ranked 20th in the world, in the next round.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)
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