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By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, May 30, 2023

 
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Coco Gauff credited a Heat source for helping her burn through 11 of the last 13 games stopping Spaniard Rebeka Masarova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to reach the second round.

Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty

Searching for her clay comfort level, Coco Gauff found strength in struggle.

First-set failure didn't faze Gauff in her Roland Garros return today.

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Seeing eight straight break points dissipate and the first set slip from her grip, Gauff faced the hole summoning Heat wave.

Elevating her play, Gauff burned through 11 of the last 13 games stopping Spaniard Rebeka Masarova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to reach the Roland Garros second round for the fourth consecutive year.

The 2022 Roland Garros runner-up will play Austrian Julia Grabher for a third-round spot. Grabher ground down Dutch qualifier Arantxa Rus 6-2, 6-3.

After her opening-round victory, Delray Beach-born baseliner Gauff, a huge Miami Heat fan, credited all-star Jimmy Butler's calm in helping Miami roll the Boston Celtics in last night's Game 7 to reach the NBA Finals, as inspirational fuel firing her comeback today.

"Heat in 7, maybe Coco in 7," Gauff joked to Tennis Channel's Jon Wertheim in her on-court interview afterward in a reference to seven matches required to capture Roland Garros.

"Honestly today I told myself if Jimmy Butler didn't freak out when they were up 3-0 and all of a sudden it's 3-all then I shouldn't freak out after losing the first set," Gauff said. " So I told myself that to be honest—and I'm not even lying."

Running through the final two sets as if directing a tennis fast break, Gauff grew stronger as the match progressed scoring her seventh win in her last eight French Open matches then charming French fans calling Paris "my favorite city in the world...I know some people don't like you guys, but I love you guys."




Gauff dropped serve in the opening game, then  served with control.

In a rematch of the Auckland final, which Gauff swept in breadstick sets, the American served 69 percent, dropped just 7 points on first serve and faced only three break points.

The 19-year-old Gauff, who arrived in Paris with a mediocre 3-3 clay-court record on the season, played cleaner tennis throughout and controlled her sometime straying forehand more effectively over the final two sets.

Gauff sailed a backhand to cede serve in her opening service game. Masarova dodged a break point to back up the break for a 3-0 lead.

The 6'1" Masarova banged a backhand winner down the line erasing a fifth break point in the fifth game. That bold bolt helped the Spaniard hold for 4-1.

Stamping her authority on serve, Gauff answered with successive love holds.

Meanwhile, Masarova placed a second-serve off the service line to save a seventh break point in the seventh game. The Spaniard spit up her second double fault of the game to face break point No. 8. Moving forward, Masarova blocked a forehand volley down the line to erase the eighth break point.

After a slew of missed opportunities, Gauff spun a forehand into net as Masarova stretched her lead to 5-2.

Thirty-eight minutes into the match, Masarova threw down a love hold to take a one-set lead.

 The Roland Garros debutant won 13 of 18 second-serve points and denied all eight break points moving within one set of her first career Top 10 win.




To that point, Masarova had good success rapping her two-hander down the line forcing Gauff to defend her weaker forehand wing on the run. When the Spaniard challenged Gauff's backhand, she paid the price.

Gauff hammered her two-hander down the line for a ninth break point. This time, Gauff read the wide serve and hit a backhand return inside the baseline, finally breaking on the ninth chance for a 3-1 second-set lead.

Once she gained that first break, Gauff was swinging more freely and stepping into her forehand.

Landing heavy first serves, Gauff won eight of nine service points pushing her lead to 4-1.

A bounce smash brought the American triple set point. Gauff closed the second set with a love hold on a five-game surge to force a decider. Gauff won 16 of 19 serve points in the second set.

Though Masarova stubbornly saved those first eight break points once Gauff cracked serve she broke down the Spaniard's defenses. A more confident Gauff was getting her body behind the ball on her drives when she scored her third straight break to to start the third set.

Holding a 3-1 third-set lead, Gauff showed killer instinct blasting a mid-court backhand sitter right back at Masarova. The shot sent the Spaniard reeling, sailing over her shoulder and settled inside the baseline for a break point.

A few fans booed as Gauff did not offer the customary hand of apology, but it also showed the sixth seed's statement of intent.

Focused on finishing the job, Gauff continued the baseline barrage drawing an errant forehand to break for 4-1.

Though Masarova broke in the sixth game, Gauff fired a crosscourt forehand to help spark her fifth break of the day and a 5-2 lead.

Dropping another crosscourt forehand inside the sideline brought Gauff to triple match point. Gauff served out a one hour, 46-minute win with a love hold and will try to bring the heat from the start of her second-round match.

In her post-match press conference, Gauff shared Jimmy Butler, a big tennis fan who attended Coco's Miami Open match in March, promised her NBA finals tickets—before the No. 8-seeded Heat had even locked up a playoff spot.

The sixth-seeded Gauff may well be too busy pursuing her maiden major to attend the NBA finals, which start on Thursday.

"This was before we were in the playoffs, the Heat were in the playoffs, he offered me tickets to see the last home game of the season," Gauff said of Butler. "Then he DM'd me a couple weeks later, asking if I wanted more tickets to see the postseason. I said, I won't be here. I'll be in Madrid and then Rome and then France. And then he said, Okay, when we make the finals, let me know if your family wants some tickets.

"So this was before we were even in the playoffs. This is before we lost to the Hawks for the first play-in game. I just felt like I knew that -- everybody is like we have a 3% chance of making the finals, but when he sent me that, I knew we were making the finals because he didn't say "if we make the finals," he said "when we make the finals."

 

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