Coco Gauff was stunned in the third round of the 2023 Miami Open by Anastasia Potapova who came back from a set down.
The recently turned 19-year-old is playing probably the best tennis of her young career in 2023. She has won 15 out of 19 matches that she played and has a title under her belt in both singles and doubles already.
After losing to the eventual finalist, Aryna Sabalenka, in Indian Wells, the American shifted her focus to Miami, where she is at home. In the first round, Gauff defeated Rebecca Marino and she set up a third-round clash with the 27th-seeded Anastasia Potapova from Russia.
The Russian has been playing very well recently but it wasn't her tennis that made headlines. Potapova chose to wear Spartak Moscow's jersey during her walk-on against Jessica Pegula at Indian Wells. Subsequently, she was warned by the WTA and even the World No. 1 Iga Swiatek spoke about her choice of attire.
In Miami, Potapova played against Marta Kostyuk from Ukraine in the second round, in a heated clash that ended without a handshake and she defended her choice to wear the controversial jersey afterward.
But fans at the Hard Rock Stadium weren't interested in controversies and they wanted to see some high-quality tennis, and that's exactly what they got. The two young players battled for every point in what was one of the third-round blockbuster.
Gauff started the match on the back foot as her opponent got the first break of the match and kept her advantage for the majority of the first set. AT 5-3, Potapova was serving for the set, but the American broke back.
Adding yet another break, the 19-year-old was serving to win the first set, but she couldn't produce another dominant hold of serve and so the first set had to be decided in a tie-break.
The tie-break mirrored the match as it was a long battle with both players having a chance to end it. First, Gauff had a set point, but then her opponent had two chances to win the tie-break. Eventually, it was the American who pushed through and won it 10-8.
The second set was a real rollercoaster ride for both players. Gauff got the first break and it was at crucial time. She led 5-3 and served for the match. But the American didn't finish it off and things would go from bad to worse very soon.
Potapova broke her opponent's serve once more and at 6-5, she served to win the second set and send the match into a decider. This time, displaying her incredible counter-punching abilities wouldn't be enough for Gauff as Potapova won the second set 7-5.
After the second set, both players were forced to leave the court as the match was suspended because of heat that they had to fight for more than two hours at that point already.
Players returned to the court, determined to fight for a win, but it wasn't a long fight. In the first four games, both players held their serves, but then, Gauff started missing and Potapova didn't wait around.
The Russian won majority of the points in the last four games, winning the match 6-7(8), 7-5, 6-2 to advance to the fourth round at the 2023 Miami Open.
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