Gauff Absolutely Crushes Mertens In Her First Match Not As A Teenager At Indian Wells

Coco Gauff's age has changed, but one thing hasn't, she still won her match at the 2024 Indian Wells Open, beating Elise Mertens.

Since breaking out on the WTA Tour in 2019, Gauff has been known as this "prodigious teenager" and while she's still a prodigy, she's not a teenager anymore, as she turned 20 today on March 13th, 2024.

She even played a match on her birthday, taking on Elise Mertens in the fourth round of the 2024 Indian Wells Open. The two had met three times before, and the American had won every match. She added to the record with another win, this time the most dominant one.

Gauff celebrated her 20th birthday in the best possible way, and she entered this new chapter of her career in a way that she would want to replicate many times over and over again.

The 20-year-old broke her opponent's serve three times, while holding her own serve three times as well, and that couldn't result in any other result than a 6-0 victory in only 25 minutes.

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In the second set, Gauff jumped out onto a 2-0 lead, winning eight consecutive games in a row at this point, but her Belgian opponent was able to get into the match for a brief moment, winning two games to make it 2-2.

Yet, Gauff was in a rush to enjoy the rest of her birthday, and she played that way. After an hour and six minutes, the 2023 US Open champion won the match 6-0, 6-2, reaching the 2024 Indian Wells Open quarter-finals.

Up next, she will take on the winner of the match between the 11th-seeded Daria Kasatkina and Yue Yuan. On top of that, she's the second highest-ranked player remaining in the draw, as Aryna Sabalenka was stunned earlier in the day.

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