Svitolina beats Gauff in 2nd round in Australia open

By
Daily Excelsior
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MELBOURNE, Feb 11:
Fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina beat 16-year-old Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the Australian Open.
Svitolina has reached the quarterfinals in Australia twice and showed her experience as she took on Gauff for the first time. She made the most of her only break-point chance in the second set to take a 5-3 lead and then served it out.
Svitolina will play No. 26-seeded Yulia Putintseva in the third round.
Gauff was the youngest player in the women’s draw. She was unable to repeat her performances from her breakout major in Melbourne last year. She reached the round of 16 at the 2020 Australian Open with wins over Venus Williams and Naomi Osaka before losing to eventual champion Sofia Kenin.
Fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas has been pushed all the way in a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4 win over No. 267-ranked Australian wild-card entry Thanasi Kokkinakis in a second-round match that delayed the night program on Rod Laver Arena.
Tsitsipas has a big following within Melbourne’s large Greek community but he he was playing an Aussie for the first time at the Australian Open and had to contend with having a share support in the crowd.
Tsitsipas will next play Mikael Ymer, who beat 17-year-old Spanish qualifier Carlos Alcaraz in the second round.
Kokkinakis didn’t play at all in 2020 because of illness and injuries and this is his first major tournament since the 2019 U.S. Open. His first-round win over over Kwon soon-woo was his first in the Australian Open main draw since 2015.
Mackenzie McDonald, who won NCAA tennis titles at UCLA, eliminated No. 22-seeded Borna Coric 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the Australian Open’s third round for the first time.
McDonald is ranked 192nd after missing more than six months because of hamstring surgery and is the lowest-ranked player Coric has lost to in a tour-level match.
McDonald, a 25-year-old American, now will try to equal his best Grand Slam result by getting to the fourth round, which he did at Wimbledon three years ago. (PTI)

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