Cincinnati [US], August 17 : The 7th-seeded Coco Gauff clinched a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Mayar Sherif at the Cincinnati Masters to reach the third round at the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati for the first time.
A first-round bye put Gauff into Round 2, and just 80 minutes on the court against Sherif put her into the last 16 at the tournament for the first time in her fourth main-draw appearance.
Following a service break exchange between Gauff and Sherif to begin the match, the American denied the Egyptian three points to hold for 2-2 and was off and running from there. Gauff went on to win the next three games of the match, saving two break opportunities in the first game of the second set.
Gauff will face Czech Linda Noskova, who stunned ninth-seeded compatriot Petra Kvitova in three sets to move to the third round.
The two earlier met last spring at Indian Wells, when Gauff triumphed 6-4, 6-3. Gauff is 3-0 in career matches against players younger than her.
It will be the first WTA 1000 round of 16 meeting between two teens since Caroline Wozniacki took on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Miami in 2010.
Elsewhere, Zheng Qinwen rallied for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory at the Western and Southern Open against seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams.
The first set of the match saw some vintage Williams moments. The seven-time Grand Slam champion was razor-sharp, hitting her trademark low and deep groundstrokes. She saved the lone break point against her serve and twice broke Zheng, who committed seven double faults. She wrapped up the set with another unreturnable serve.
But Williams failed to keep the dominant performance in the second set as Zheng regained her composure and delivered a similarly powerful performance in the second. Williams lost the next six games after leading 2-0. While Venus had nine winners and just two unforced errors in the first frame, she only had five winners and 19 unforced errors in the second.
The third set was all Zheng, as Williams appeared to tyre. Zheng won 29 of the 44 points in that set.
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