By Martyn Herman
LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) – Coco Gauff managed to shrug off her Wimbledon gremlins in the nick of time to avoid another early exit on Wednesday after men’s defending champion Jannik Sinner and women’s top seed Aryna Sabalenka eased into the third round.
The day after seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams’ comeback ended in defeat, the player who took the baton from the American great once again looked vulnerable on the grass but dug in to beat Solana Sierra 6-3 3-6 7-6(10-7).
Gauff, the seventh seed, looked on the brink of a third first-round loss at Wimbledon in four years as Argentina’s Sierra served for the match at 5-4 in the third set.
But Gauff channelled the warrior spirit of Williams to drag herself back and, after producing a moment of magic at 7-7 in the tiebreak, she sealed victory with an ace to set up a third-round clash with fellow American Claire Liu.
GOLFERS IN THE ROYAL BOX
A clutch of European Ryder Cup winners watched from the Royal Box on Centre Court as top seed Sinner took on Portugal’s Nuno Borges and after the hazards the Italian faced in his five-set win over Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in his opener, the 24-year-old kept it straight down the middle to reach round three.
World number 48 Borges had a set point in the second set, but Sinner was relatively untroubled as he raised his game at the pivotal moments for a 7-6(4) 7-6(2) 6-4 victory.
Sabalenka, bidding for her first Wimbledon title, was cruising against American McCartney Kessler but had to fight back from 5-2 down in the second set to win 6-1 7-6(9).
Kessler had two set points at 5-3 and another two in the tiebreak but four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka raised the intensity levels to set up a third-round firefight against big-hitting Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.
Sabalenka gave herself eight out of 10 for her first-round win over Teodora Kostovic and passed another test on Wednesday.
“She played incredible and played super aggressive and it was really tough to handle the second set and I am glad to have powered through,” Sabalenka said.
SEEDS MAKE PROGRESS
Four-times Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka swapped her first round “Kill Bill” kimono for a more toned down outfit for her second round clash against Russian qualifier Anastasia Gasanova but dazzled with her tennis as she won 6-3 6-2.
Several other women’s seeds progressed. Number 10 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic beat China’s Zhang Shuai to set up a third-round against Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew who impressed in her win against American Alycia Parks.
American teenager Iva Jovic, seeded 16th, easily solved the puzzle that is 38-year-old Tatjana Maria, beating the wily German slice-merchant 6-1 6-2.
In the men’s draw eighth seed Daniil Medvedev enjoyed a four-set win against Spain’s Daniel Merida, French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli, seeded nine, beat Mariano Navone and Brazil’s Joao Fonseca blazed past Dutchman Jesper de Jong.
American qualifier Michael Zheng backed up his opening win against British number one Cameron Norrie with a straight sets win against Colombia’s Nicolas Mejia. He was joined in round three by fellow American Tommy Paul who claimed his second successive straight sets win, this time against Kwon Soon-woo.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Alison Williams)
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