Coco Gauff breezes past Britain's Sonay Kartal in straight-set victory to reach Wimbledon's last-16 - before American star heaps praise on world No 278's run in the tournament
- Gauff beat Kartal 6-4 6-0 to book her place in the last 16 at Wimbledon
- The American later heaped praise on Kartal's impressive run in the tournament
Coco Gauff matched her best run at Wimbledon by ending the brave run of British qualifier Sonay Kartal 6-4 6-0.
Gauff let out a scream of relief after taking a tight opening set against the world No278 but raced through the second, dropping only a couple of points on her serve in reaching the fourth round.
The second seed hasn’t dropped a set at this year’s Championship and is a live contender to repeat her maiden Grand Slam triumph at the last US Open.
Even so, the 20-year-old admitted playing a home favourite on No1 Court had brought its challenges.
‘I was a little bit nervous going in because I knew you guys would be for her which is totally understandable,’ said the American.
‘She played at a high level in the first set so I never felt settled. I was just trying to make less mistakes. Then I found it and was able to do well.
‘I am proud of the whole tournament. I’d never come up against anyone like Coco before,’ she said.
‘This week was a bit unexpected, I’m not going to lie. There will be a few schedule changes now. It’s important for me to play the bigger tournaments to develop.
Instead of a scheduled ITF event, Kartal will rest in preparation for US Open qualifiers and should have time to add a Wimbledon-themed tattoo to her collection.
‘It’ll be something significant to this place. My team have thrown a few ideas around like strawberries,’ she revealed.
Kartal lost her opening service game but the partisan crowd roared her back into contention and two errors from Gauff enabled the break-back at 4-3.
Gauff then broke decisively at four-all after successfully challenging a line call on the baseline. The way she hollered at her box after completing the opening set underlined it had been tough.
In contrast, the second set was a cakewalk. Kartal’s level visibly dropped as she tried to keep pace with her big-hitting opponent. She dropped serve to love in the opening game and only took one game to deuce, Gauff finishing the job off after 61 minutes with an ace.