Coco Gauff reached the third round of the 2024 Indian Wells Open after staging a miraculous comeback against Clara Burel.
Going into her first match at the Indian Wells Open, the young American needed a win, as she lost three of her last five matches, which was her worst run in a very long time.
Competing at the WTA 1000 tournament on home soil is certainly an added motivation, and the fact that Gauff was assured to be the world no. 3 also after the tournament should have given her some confidence to swing freely.
However, in the opening set, it looked like anything but, as the 19-year-old struggled to find any sort of rhythm, with Burel playing one of her best matches this year, and overpowering the home player to win the first set 6-2.
In the second set, Gauff was already down 0-2, and she was able to recover the break and add another one to win the second set 6-3 and send the match into the decider, but that wasn't the miraculous comeback.
In the deciding set of the match, the American was down 0-4 with her opponent having a two-break advantage, and it seemed like there was no going back for Gauff, who was being overpowered by the French player.
However, the 2023 US Open champion started an inspired comeback, recovering the first, and also the second break point to force the tie-break in the deciding set.
Burel was already quite annoyed by the fact that she let a two-break lead slip, and it showed early on in the tie-break, as Gauff had a much better start, and that eventually earned her the win.
The third seed won the tie-break and the match 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) to reach the third round of the 2024 Indian Wells Open.
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