Coco Gauff defeated Moyuka Uchijima at Indian Wells after a closely-fought contest (Image: GETTY)
admitted her serve let her down during her Indian Wells victory over Moyuka Uchijima and then dished up a putdown to her rival by insisting she would have won in straight sets had she not struggled in that department. The American is eyeing up the title in California after setting up a third-round showdown with Maria Sakkari.
Gauff got the upper hand in the early stages of her clash with Uchijima as she clinched the first set 6-4. But the Japanese star fought back to force the match into a decider by taking the second set 6-3. The two players then engaged in a fierce battle as they vied for dominance in the third. And Gauff clinched victory on a tiebreak, with the match taking more than two-and-a-half hours to complete.
After the contest, Gauff was asked whether there were any aspects of her game she wanted to work on to give herself the best chance of triumphing at Indian Wells.
And the 20-year-old replied: “Yeah, I mean obviously serve – just like getting more serves in the court. Off the ground I felt pretty good, honestly.
“I think if I just double-faulted less, it could have probably been a straight-set match. I felt off the ground I felt like I was dictating more of the rallies.
“But, yeah I mean, coming off a tough couple of back-to-back losses, I guess it’s just taking it more as a positive maybe than if I had a couple good weeks last two tournaments.”
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Coco Gauff will be eyeing up the Indian Wells title over the coming week (Image: GETTY)
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Gauff has endured a difficult period on the court after suffering back-to-back defeats against Marta Kostyuk and McCartney Kessler in the Middle East.
The 2023 US Open champion was beaten 2-0 by Kostyuk in her opening match of the Qatar Open in mid-February before being dispatched 2-0 by Kessler in her first encounter at the Dubai Tennis Championships a week later.
In her previous match before the Middle East swing, she had been by Paula Badosa at the quarter-final stage.
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And commenting on her recent form after her win against Uchijima, Gauff explained: “It’s been a rough couple of weeks and I’m just happy to get a win on the court.
“No one likes to lose, and I came in here with determination. It wasn’t my best tennis, but a win is a win.”
Gauff will take on Sakkari in her second match at Indian Wells on Monday. Sakkari booked her place in the last-32 of the tournament after thrashing Viktoriya Tomova 6-0, 6-3 on Saturday.