Gauff wins again, reaches 3rd round
WIMBLEDON, England — There are ways in which Coco Gauff is just like any other 15-yearold. She watches whatever videos YouTube recommends for her, from makeup tutorials to anything that’ll make her laugh.
And then there is what happens when Gauff has a tennis racket in her hands, making her unlike most anyone else in the world — now or ever.
With big shots and a calm beyond her years, she followed up her upset of Venus Williams in the first round with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Magdalena Rybarikova under a closed roof on No. 1 Court at Wimbledon.
‘‘It just shows if you really work hard, you can get where you want to go,’’ said Gauff, who received a wild-card invitation for the qualifying competition, then became the youngest player in the pro era to get through those pre-tournament rounds and reach the main draw. ‘‘Last week around this time, I didn’t know I was coming here. It just shows you have to be ready for everything.’’
She certainly has looked ready. After eliminating the 39-year-old Williams, who won four of her seven major titles before Gauff was born, she needed less than 70 minutes to get past the 30-yearold Rybarikova. Gauff didn’t face a break point in the second-round match and again played cleanly, this time committing only 10 unforced errors.
The toughest part for Gauff might have been dealing with everything on the periphery that came with her victory against Williams.
‘‘I could lie and say I felt normal,’’ said Gauff, who will face Polona Hercog in the third round. ‘‘It was honestly so hard, just with social media and everything, trying to focus on my next match because people are still posting about Venus.’’
There were direct messages via social media from ‘‘a lot of celebrities,’’ including some TV actresses, Gauff said.
‘‘I’m kind of star-struck,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s been hard to reset.’’
It didn’t seem that way once she stepped on the court.
Among other players reaching the third round were top-seeded Novak Djokovic, fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson, 10th-seeded Karen Khachanov and 11th-seeded Daniil Medvedev on the men’s side and third-seeded Karolina Pliskova, seventh-seeded Simona Halep and eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina on the women’s side.