Coco Gauff, the reigning U.S. Open champion, was on the ropes all morning long, but she showed a winner’s grit and rallied in the third set for a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Clara Burel of France in a second-round match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Saturday.
Gauff trailed 4-0 and 5-2 in the third set, but finally found the game that had been eluding her. She won three straight games to tie it at 5-5. Both players held serve to force a tiebreaker and Gauff took over, jumping to a 6-2 lead in the tiebreaker and eventually winning it 7-4 when a Burel forehand went long. Gauff let out a roar and pumped a clenched fist after the final point, knowing she had survived a battle.Having a tough opening-round match isn’t always a harbinger of how a player will do moving forward. Gauff, in fact, said in her experience, it’s often the opposite.
