Coco Gauff makes lucky loser spot count as she advances at the Linz Open

WTA Tour
Coco Gauff forehand

Lucky loser Coco Gauff took full advantage of her good fortune as she beat Stefanie Voegele in the first round of the Linz Open on Tuesday.

The 15-year-old American lost her second-round qualifying match against Tamara Korpatsch, but Maria Sakkari’s withdrawal just 15 minutes before she had been scheduled to face Voegele allowed Gauff into the main draw.

And she made that count as she powered her way to an impressive 6-3 7-6 (7-3) win.

The match featured 12 breaks of serve, and it was Gauff who prevailed after two hours and two minutes to set up a second-round clash with Kateryna Kozlova.

Victory there would be enough to propel the teenager into the top 100 for the first time.

Fifth seed Julia Goerges eased to a 6-4 6-2 victory over Margarita Gasparyan while France’s Alize Cornet upset seventh seed Barbora Strycova 6-4 6-4.

Alison Van Uytvanck defeated fellow Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure 6-3 6-2 and France’s Kristina Mladenovic beat Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova 6-1 7-5.

Germany’s Laura Siegemund also progressed after a hard-fought 6-2 5-7 7-5 win against France’s Fiona Ferro and Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina overcame Serbia’s Nina Stojanovic 7-6 (5) 6-2.

Second seed Wang Qiang led a host of Chinese players into the second round of the Tianjin Open.

Wang defeated Arina Rodionova 6-3 6-4 while there were also first-round wins for seventh seed Zheng Saisai, Peng Shuai, Wang Xinyu and Wang Xiyu.

Third seed Dayana Yastremska prevented a clean sweep, beating Zhu Lin 6-2 6-3, and eighth seed Magda Linette was a 6-3 6-1 winner over Christina McHale.

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Coco Gauff

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