World No. 4 Coco Gauff staged a remarkable comeback after failing to win a single game in the opening set, ultimately defeating Dayana Yastremska 0-6, 6-2, 7-5 in their second-round encounter at the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday night.
This victory marked just the second occasion in Gauff`s WTA career where she has managed to win a match after losing the first set by a 6-0 scoreline. The only previous instance occurred four years ago against Elise Mertens in Eastbourne.
Gauff now holds a perfect 3-0 head-to-head record against Yastremska, with all matches played on clay. However, this latest meeting was far from straightforward, with the decisive third set alone requiring over an hour to complete.
In the final set, Gauff initially gained control, breaking Yastremska`s serve twice to build a 3-0 lead. But Yastremska fought back, securing two breaks of her own to level the set at 3-3. Gauff broke again and served for the match at 5-3. Yastremska showed resilience, saving three match points on her serve before battling back to tie the score at 5-all.
Gauff secured a crucial third break of the set to move ahead 6-5 and then successfully served out the match to seal the win. The match featured a high number of service breaks, with both players being broken in seven of their 14 service games.
Following this result, Yastremska`s career record against Top 10 ranked opponents stands at 4 wins and 19 losses.
The match took place on Manolo Santana Stadium and had a similar dramatic arc to an earlier match on the same court involving World No. 2 Iga Swiatek, who also rallied from being a set and a break down to defeat 19-year-old Filipina Alexandra Eala in three sets.
Gauff is now two wins away from reaching the quarterfinals in Madrid, which would represent her best performance in her five appearances at the tournament. At 21 years old, Gauff is the youngest player since the WTA 1000 format was introduced in 2009 to win eight consecutive opening matches on clay surfaces in these events.
Gauff`s next challenge will be against fellow American Ann Li on Saturday. Li earned her spot by defeating 25th seed Leylah Fernandez with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
