Italian Open: Coco Gauff defeats Yulia Putintseva to advance into third round
May 11, 2023
Rome [Italy], May 11 : World No.5 Coco Gauff advanced to the third round of the Italian Open after defeating Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 6-1 on Thursday.
En route to her 59-minute victory, the 19-year-old American fired 29 winners while holding Putintseva to just one. Gauff will face 27th seed Marie Bouzkova next for a spot in the Round of 16.
"I usually have long matches with her. I was fully prepared for that. But I told myself to play on my terms, not her terms. She's obviously a tricky player, has some big wins. Made the quarters of the French a couple of times. I know clay is her surface. It's also kind of mine, too, so it was a good match today," WTA.com quoted Coco Gauff as saying.
The exhaustion from that exertion was clear against Gauff, as Putintseva was a step off of her customary defensive prowess. Gauff responded by overpowering her from the baseline.
"I usually have long matches with her. I was fully prepared for that. But I told myself to play on my terms, not her terms. She's obviously a tricky player and has some big wins. Made the quarters of the French a couple of times. I know clay is her surface. It's also kind of mine, too, so it was a good match today," Gauff said.
The American's performance was a strong rebound from her 6-3, 6-0 loss to Paula Badosa in the third round of the Madrid Open. Gauff confessed before the competition that she needed some time to recover from her loss.
"It was a tough loss for me. I think you could see that it just wasn't my day, my game, and not how I like to appear on the court. I've been working really hard since then. I'm feeling good. I'm practising a lot better," Gauff said in Rome.
"With the coaching change, it's tough. I think I was dealing with making that adjustment. Especially during this part of the season, which is important to me, I felt a little bit of pressure. Now I feel like having that match, I feel like I'm just ready to build myself back up into what I know I can be," she added.
