Coco Gauff sails through Sasnovich test to set up Rybakina clash in Dubai

Coco Gauff launched her bid for a first WTA 1000 title with a comfortable victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich at the Dubai Championships.

The World No.6 proved far too strong for Belarussian Sasnovich and eased to a 6-0, 6-4 win in just over an hour and will now move on to face Australian Open finalist Elena Rybakina in the next round. Many believed Sasnovich would prove to be a tricky opponent for 18-year-old Gauff, with the World No.43 able to match the youngster’s power and court coverage amongst other things.

But the American was on it from the first point, dominating the points and showing everyone watching she was ready to bounce back from her tough Melbourne defeat to Jelena Ostapenko in January. The number five seed broke three times in the opening set, a superb set of tennis that Gauff wrapped up in just 29 minutes.

Sasnovich has had a tough start to the year, losing more matches than she’s won, and it looked at one point as if she was on her way to the dreaded ‘double bagel’, a situation which must have been on her mind as Gauff broke serve for a fourth time early in the second set. But with her coach smiling as he watched on, the 28-year-old right-hander from Minsk showed some steel as she forced a break of serve of her own, getting on the scoreboard at the ninth time of asking.

However, Gauff carved out three more break points, breaking again on the second one to take a 3-1 lead. Gauff will know she will face a sterner test when coming up against Wimbledon champion Rybakina but consolidated the break she had just earned with a serve and winner one-two combination to make it 4-1.

The finish line was now firmly in sight for Gauff. But, to everyone’s surprise, Sasnovich began playing her best tennis, breaking serve to love and holding her serve to level up the set at 4-4. But Gauff has already won a title this year and showed flashes of why as she found her groove again to set-up three break points at 5-4. And Gauff won the match when Sasnovich netted to move through after a scare.