By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, April 25, 2024
Coco Gauff required just 51 minutes to dish out a double-bagel to Arantxa Rus after Liudmila Samsonova stopped Naomi Osaka 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
Photo credit: Mateo Villalba/Getty
The Rolex court-side clock could have been replaced by a stopwatch.
Time cover girl Coco Gauff killed time crushing Arantxa Rus 6-0, 6-0 turning her Mutua Madrid opener into dirt dusting.
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It’s the first time Gauff has dished out a double bagel in her career.
Reigning US Open champion Gauff moved into round three right after Liudmila Samsonova edged four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
The 15th-seeded Samsonova avenged her Indian Wells loss to Osaka slashing successive aces to seal a two hour, 22-minute victory.
Mixing flat backhand blasts with heavier, higher topspin forehands, Gauff broke serve six times in an overwhelming 51-minute thrashing.
The third-ranked Gauff opened this week with a shot to rise to a career-high No. 2 depending on the results of current No. 2 and defending Madrid champion Aryna Sabalenka as well as fourth-ranked Elena Rybakina, who won Stuttgart last week.
The 20-year–old Gauff advanced to a third-round meeting vs. 31st-seeded Dayana Yastremska.
Australian Open semifinalist Yastremska overcame an opening bagel set rallying past Emiliano Arango 0-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Rus floated a forehand wide as Gauff broke to open the match.
Beating Rus to the ball and to the punch Gauff rolled a topspin drive drawing another error to break for a 5-0 lead after 18 minutes.
A free-flowing Gauff baked up the bagel set in 22 minutes as Rus littered a forehand error on set point.
Two games into the second set, Rus threatened the Gauff serve earning four break points.
Gauff denied all four break points, opened the court with a heavy forehand then swept a backhand swing volley winner for her eighth straight game and a 2-0 second-set lead.
Striking running drives with accuracy and ambition, Gauff drilled a running forehand winner down the line for match point and closed a dominant win in 51 minutes.
The Samsonova-Osaka pitched pitted two power players eager to play off the front foot.
World No. 17 Samsonova kept Osaka off balance at the outside shifting spins on her serve. Samsonova sometimes cracked high-bounding kick serves to displace Osaka and set up first strikes.
Osaka could not crack the code of the Samsonova serve.
Samsonova broke to start the match and sped through three love holds taking a one-set lead after winning 17 of 20 points played on her serve in the first set.
After cruising through a near-flawless serving performance in the first set, Samsonova was struggling to land first serves midway through the second set.
Staring down a break point in the eighth game, Samsonova swept it aside with a jamming first serve. A double fault handed Osaka a second break point, This time, Samsonova floated a running forehand gifting back the break as Osaka leveled after eight games.
While Osaka was streaking, Samsonova was stumbling.
Samsonova netted her sixth double fault to cede the second set. Osaka streak through the final four games of the set to force a decider after 80 minutes of play.
Thumping an ace down the middle, Osaka capped a hard-fought seventh game holding for 4-3 with a loud “come on!”
Pouncing on a second serve, Samsonova smacked a return right back at Osaka who missed a backhand. Samsonova broke for 6-5.
An ace out wide brought Samsonova double match point.
Sliding a second straight ace down the T sealed a quality Samsonova victory.
Samsonova, who reached the round of 16 in Madrid last year, will face 2017 US Open finalist Madison Keys for a round of 16 spot.
The 18th-seeded Keys beat Irina-Camelia Begu 7-6(3), 7-6(6). Keys saved 10 of 13 break points in a two hour, 11-minute triumph.