Seventh-seeded Coco Gauff rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Mayar Sherif at the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday night to reach the third round at the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati for the first time.
Here are some top takeaways from Gauff's opening win:
Gauff's best-career Cincy result: In three prior appearances in the Queen City, Gauff had never been past the second round, including a first-round loss last year.
But a first-round bye put her into Round 2, and just 80 minutes on court against Sherif put her into the last 16 at the tournament for the first time in her fourth main-draw appearance.
After Gauff and Sherif traded service breaks to start the match, the American denied the Egyptian three points to hold for 2-2, and was off and running from then on. Gauff later saved two break points in the first game of the second set and won the last three games of the match.
Dazzling under the lights ✨@CocoGauff | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/Nkw4bcdMrW
— wta (@WTA) August 17, 2023
Gauff stays hot: With the win, the American improves to 7-1 since Wimbledon, with all seven of those wins coming in straight sets.
With the win over World No.33 Sherif, Gauff improves to 23-3 against players ranked lower than her on hard courts this year, with her last loss coming against Anastasia Potapova in Miami.
A rarity awaits: For just the fourth time in her career, Gauff will face a player younger than her in the next round in the form of Czech Linda Noskova, who upset her ninth-seeded compatriot Petra Kvitova in three sets to advance to the third round.
The pair have played once previously, this spring at Indian Wells, where Gauff won 6-4, 6-3. Gauff is 3-0 in matches in her career against players younger than her.
It will be the first WTA 1000 round of 16 between two teenagers since Caroline Wozniacki faced Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Miami in 2010.