Tennis-Ruthless Gauff cruises past Danilovic into Australian Open third round

MELBOURNE, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Third seed Coco Gauff beat Olga Danilovic 6-2 6-2 to move into the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday, denying the Serbian the chance to knock out a second American Grand Slam champion after she eliminated Venus Williams.

Gauff, who beat Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2 6-3 in the first round, made quick work of Danilovic in 77 minutes at a sunny Margaret Court Arena to book a third-round encounter with compatriot Hailey Baptiste.

“I felt pretty good out there. I thought it was a pretty straightforward win. Olga is a tricky player, but I’m just happy with how I managed today,” Gauff told reporters.

Danilovic’s chances of beating Gauff looked slim after just 22 minutes when the American surged out of the blocks to consolidate two early breaks and lead 5-0.

The Serbian attempted to impose herself by taking risks from the baseline, but the strategy quickly unravelled as unforced errors spilled from her racket under relentless pressure.

“Today I felt better than my first round, despite the score. Even though first round was a straightforward score, there were so many games that went long — 10-minute games that were deuce, ad, back and forth,” Gauff added.

“I think today I did better closing those games out quicker.”

Trying to go toe-to-toe and hit through Gauff proved a fruitless endeavour, although Danilovic found some success when she mixed in the drop shot and ventured forward behind her serve.

Gauff, by contrast, was composed and clinical, leaving Danilovic short of breath between points by sending her sprinting from corner to corner.

There was a flicker of relief when Danilovic finally got on the board after Gauff’s fourth double fault gifted her a game.

The respite was short-lived, however, as Danilovic returned the favour with her first double fault on set point.

Gauff showed no signs of easing off in the second set and secured another early break to go 3–0 ahead.

Danilovic summoned all her resolve in a gruelling 10-minute service game to get on the board, but it did little to stall Gauff’s momentum.

After Danilovic saved one match point, Gauff converted a fifth break point to seal the match.

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)