Seventh seed Coco Gauff of the United States defeated Croatian-born American Bernarda Pera 6-3 6-2 in the third round of the 2023 Australian Open.
Conversion of just one of eight break points was enough for Gauff to cruise through the opening set. Just like in the first set, Gauff established a 4-1 lead in the second set, but this time it was a double break lead, and even though Pera managed to earn one break back, the world No.41 couldn’t recover completely. Actually, Gauff broke her once more and held serve in the long eighth game to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open for the second time.
The 18-year-old Gauff, one of two teenagers left in the draw along with Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, will next face 17th seed Jelena Ostapenko, who defeated Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl 6-3 6-0 for the first time in their four career meetings. The world No.95 Baindl upset Ostapenko in the first round of the 2018 French Open, when the Latvian was defending champion.
