Barty, Gauff win on Centre Court in Wimbledon second round

Make it two matches played, and two matches won, on Centre Court for World No.1 Ashleigh Barty so far in the first week of Wimbledon after the top seed overcame Russian Anna Blinkova, 6-4, 6-3, in Thursday's second round.

After going three sets against Carla Suarez Navarro on Tuesday in the latter's final Wimbledon during an emotional first round, Barty was able to edge the World No.89 in two sets, but not without facing adversity. She lost serve three times in victory and racked up 33 unforced errors, including nine double faults.

That was more than balanced out, however, by 33 winners and six breaks, as she hit nearly three times Blinkova's total of winners and went 6-for-15 on break points she created on the Russian's serve.

"A few things didn't feel quite right today. That's half the battle in sport, is being able to find a way when it's not feeling all that great," Barty said after the match.

"I felt like when my back was against the wall today, I was able to bring the good stuff. It just wasn't quite there all the time. We have another opportunity to now go out on the practice court, work on it, try to bring some good stuff in the third round.

"[It was] not my best serving day. But that happens as well. I felt like I was just out of rhythm a little bit. A few technical things weren't quite feeling spot on. But you have those days where some days you feel like you're eight-foot-tall and can't miss the box. Other days you feel like you're three-foot-nothing, just getting over the net is a bit of a battle.

"We just go back to work. Certainly nothing that will concern me over a longer period. We have those days. We just go back to kind of the routines that we usually would and try to find a way in the next match."

Barty was 2-0 down in the opening set, but after Blinkova held at 2-2 from 0-40 down, the Aussie won six of the next seven games to take a set and a break lead.

A mid-set dip from the World No.1 allowed the 22-year-old Russian to win the next three games, but Barty reset from that point on to win the last four and seal the match.

Up next, Barty will take on Katerina Siniakova for a spot in the round of 16, after the unseeded Czech came from a set down to beat the returning former World No.9 Coco Vandeweghe, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

"I try and approach every single match with the same mindset: that's one that I go out there and try and play my opponent one-on-one," Barty said. 

"I try to bring my game style and play my game style as often as possible, knowing what their strengths and weaknesses are.

"I go to work with Tyz [coach Craig Tyzzer]. We work on a few things, talk about a few things. There's nothing drastic that changes. It's more how we like to approach how we go out there and play each and every match."

Following Barty on Centre Court was American teenager Coco Gauff, who returned to the main stage at Wimbledon for the first time since beating Polona Hercog in the third round of her breakthrough run to the round of 16 in 2019.

In 71 minutes, the No.20 seed dispatched former semifinalist Elena Vesnina, 6-4, 6-3, and the teenager admitted that returning to the hallowed court was playing on her mind a bit.

"I honestly was more nervous today coming into today's match. I think the biggest thing is I don't really remember much from my Centre Court experience in 2019. I don't know, I felt like it was all a blur," she said after the match.

"But going in today I feel like a completely different player and person... It wasn't my best tennis today, but I think mentally I gave a good performance considering how nervous I was."

In a match with a 17-year age difference, with the 34-year-old Vesnina on the comeback from maternity leave after the 2019 birth of her daughter, Gauff broke serve four times and hit nine aces among her 19 winners in total.

The two players were evenly matched in the early games, with Vesnina having the first break point chances - a 15-40 lead in the sixth game to lead 4-2.

However, Gauff served her way out of trouble - helped in part as Vesnina buried a forehand in the net having earned the opportunity for a winner - and won six of the next seven games to lead by a set and a double break.

Though Vesnina got a break back - and had a 15-30 opportunity as she pushed to win a third straight game and level at 3-3 - after she received a medical timeout for a back injury, Gauff's strong serving day continued to make the difference. 

"I feel like there's moments in the match where the pressure was on from 3-0 lead and getting broken," Gauff said.

"I feel like that's a moment where I probably mentally could have disengaged the match in the past. I think I did a good job with trying my best to calm my nerves.

"To be honest, I wasn't nervous till we started walking to the court. It's a pretty nice walk. They have the little guards out around. They have a lot of artwork. It's very, I don't know, like you're walking through a museum. I think the walk is kind of what made me nervous. Like before and warming up, and last night, I wasn't nervous. I think it was really the walk.

"I think I really got comfortable really not until the end of the first set. Once I got through that set, I knew that even if the second set didn't go my way, I still had the third set to play.

"I think for me it was just trying to get a rhythm on the court. I made a lot of unforced errors today, more than I'm used to. I think when I needed to step in, I did. My serve is really what helped me in today's match. My serve has been pretty helping me all throughout the French [Open] and all throughout here. That was one thing I relied on today."

Up next, Gauff will face Slovenian Kaja Juvan, who defeated No.9 seed Belinda Bencic in the first round. The 20-year-old punched her ticket to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time with a 6-3, 6-4 win over French qualifier Clara Burel.

The pair have played twice, splitting two meetings. Earlier this year in Adelaide, Juvan served for a straight-sets win in qualifying before Gauff rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win.