Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Delray’s Gauff makes 3rd round
MIAMI GARDENS — Sixth-seeded Coco Gauff opened her 2023 Miami Open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Rebecca Marino in a late Thursday night match and advanced to the third round where she will face 27th-seeded Anastasia Potapova. After her victory, Gauff, a Delray Beach resident coming off a quarterfinals appearance at Indian Wells, said in a television interview that it wasn’t her best outing, despite converting five of her nine break points.
“It was a shaky performances honestly,” Gauff said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be a straight forward match, even if I was up a break sometimes.”
Gauff came back from a break down twice in the second set to claim her second career win versus Marino. Gauff defeated Marino in the first round at Roland Garros in 2022.
Gauff said she was a bit nervous playing near her hometown. Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat was among those in attendance Thursday.
“Jimmy Butler is here so I was a little bit nervous when I saw him,” Gauff said with a laugh in her post-match interview. “Playing home is something I look forward to, but it’s also a little bit of extra pressure because everyone wants you to do well here.”
Gauff faces Potapova on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Friday play: Carlos Alcaraz picked up a straight-set win on Friday to keep his world No. 1 ranking over idle Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic is not participating in the Miami Open because he still can’t travel to the United States as a foreign citizen who is not vaccinated against COVID19. The 19-year-old Alcaraz, who beat Casper Ruud in the 2022 U.S. Open final for his first No. 1 ranking, defeated Facundo Bagnis 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the third round. No. 1 American and No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz began his tournament campaign with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Emilio Nava. Fritz is 17-1 in his opening rounds of hard court tournaments since the start of 2022, with his only loss coming at the 2022 US Open to No. 303 Brandon Holt.
Fritz will next face No. 24 Denis Shapovalov, who defeated Guido Pella on Friday.
On the women’s side, Bianca Andreescu — the 2019 U.S. Open champion — came from a set down to oust No. 7 seed Maria Sakkari 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Andreescu improved to 2-1 over Sakkari, with both wins coming in Miami.