AUSTRALIAN OPEN: COCO GAUFF PROGRESS TO ROUND OF 16 AFTER DEFEATING PERA

America’s Coco Gauff has advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open after defeating compatriot Bernarda Pera 6-3 6-2 in their first ever meeting.

Coco, who achieved her second time round of 16 at the Australian was dominant in the match, outshining fellow country woman Pera, who made too many unforced errors in the match at the Margaret Court Arena. The 2022 French Open finalist, obviously was mostly untroubled, showing a class of tremendous performance which she has not dropped a set in 2023.

She took the first set converting her chances while Pera had hit 21 unforced errors giving Coco an advantage to get the break point needed in the fourth game. Gauff pressured for a double break, unfortunately she squandered three points at 5-2 up, although she took the opening set on her serve forcing Pera to slice into the net.

In the second set, spreading to the third game of the second stanza set, Gauff took the lead at 2-1 after a forehand error from Pera. The match had seen Guaff save a break point after mounting pressure from Pera. Although Coco consolidated on her serve before getting double break in a lengthy fifth game, Pera swiped her forehand wide.

Gauff eventually closed out the match on her serve on her fourth match point when Pera fired long. Prior to that Gauff was sluggish for a double fault forcing Pera a break back before the French Open finalist restored her break advantage and her compatriot could not withstand the pressure and crashed a backhand into the net.

With the victory the 18 year old will face Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth round on Sunday. Meanwhile, Gauff did describe the match as a tough match with her opponent’s technical ability superb. “She hit the ball really hard.”  Gauff added she is a tough player to beat. But she is happy to be through to the second week.