Coco Gauff limited her double faults number today in at least some capacity and that helped the No. 3 seed get the job done in two sets against 29th-seeded Maria Sakkari 7-6 (1) 6-2 in the Indian Wells third round.
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After spraying a stunning 21 double faults during her opener in the desert versus Moyuka Uchijima, the American had nine double faults today. Believe it or not, six of those nine double faults came in the final game, during which the 2023 US Open champion needed six match points before sealing the deal.
But most importantly for Gauff, she managed to close out the match and avoid major drama.
Now, she is set to play against the winner of the match between Belinda Bencic and Diana Shnaider for a place in the Indian Wells quarterfinal.
How Gauff beat Sakkari and her reaction
Through the opening four games of the match, as many breaks of serve were seen - it is worth mentioning that Sakkari was the one who was twice up by a break. But in the rest of the set, no more breaks were seen, although the American had a set point on the Greek's serve in the 10th game.
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While Sakkari saved a set point to eventually force a tie-break, she made a couple of costly errors in the first-set tie-break and ended up losing it with only one point won.
Early in the second set, Gauff blew an early break but then claimed back-to-back breaks and won four games in a row to complete a two-set win.
By beating the Greek, the 20-year-old also got a bit of revenge since she was beaten by the former world No. 3 in Indian Wells last year.
I lost to Maria here last year in the semifinals, so it felt good to get a little revenge today... Even though I love her," Gauff said.
