CNN
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It wasn’t long ago. Coco Gaff Burst on the scene at the age of 15, defeating Venus Williams at Wimbledon in 2019.
But time marches on and it was. Gaff Jo was a seasoned player on the court on Saturday when she beat the 16-year-old. My Andreeva A fierce battle between two of tennis’ most talented youngsters.
The American lost the first set in a tiebreak but rallied to beat Andreeva in the next two sets, winning 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-1 to advance to the fourth round of the French Open.
“We practiced together this week, actually,” Gauff, who is still just 19, said afterward, according to the Guardian. “I don’t know if it made any difference to the match – it’s all about adjustment, it’s tennis.
“It wasn’t going to be an easy match today, she deserves to be where she is and go even further.”
Andreeva celebrated her 16th birthday in April and became the youngest player to reach the third round at Roland Garros since 2005, according to the WTA.
And for the first 65 minutes of the match, it looked like Andreeva could continue her rise with a shock victory as she overcame Goff’s weak forehand side with the first serve to win the set tiebreak.
Despite her age, Goff has already played in several French Open tournaments and reached the final last year. Armed with that experience, she reset, pushed her second serve forward, and used her powerful backhand to eventually break Andreeva.
Goff will now face unseeded Anna Karolina Schmidlova for a place in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Elsewhere in the women’s draw, defending champion and world No. 1 Iga Swiatek also reached the fourth round with an emphatic 6-0 6-0 win over China’s Wang Xinyu, while world No. 4 Elena Rybakina reached the top seed. withdrew from the French Open. respiratory disease.