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Coco Gauff hits backhand at Australian Open 2020
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‘My mentality pushed me to win’ – US sensation Coco Gauff adds another big name to list of scalps


Coco Gauff underlined her status as the most exciting teenage tennis player on the planet by beating world number 11 Aryna Sabalenka at the Top Seed Open.

The 16-year-old, who has already beaten Venus Williams and Naomi Osaka in Grand Slams, was made to work for the win in an almost three-hour epic in Lexington, but came through to win 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-4.

Gauff struggled with her serve in the opening set, but showed the maturity to correct it before powering to victory.

“It’s pretty much impossible to play your best tennis for all three hours of a match,” Coco Gauff told reporters after the match.

“Keeping the level high throughout was pretty tough, but that’s just tennis, playing in different conditions, and just starting back on tour.

“I’m not too upset with how I played, I’m most proud of how I handled myself, staying composed on the pressure points.”

“My mentality pushed me to win. We were both playing good tennis. We both had up and downs in the match.

“At the end of the day, it came down to a couple of points, a couple of close calls, that’s tennis in general.”

Gauff will now face Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur for a spot in the semi-finals.


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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.