Second seed Coco Gauff had an easy day of the office, advancing after Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska withdrew from their third-round clash at the Cincinnati Open because of illness.
The American second seed will next face Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti, who beat 23rd seed Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, 1-6 6-3 6-4 on Tuesday (local time).
It marked the second third-round walkover, following fellow Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk’s withdrawal before her match against Polish third seed Iga Swiatek.
A six-time grand slam winner and reigning Wimbledon champion, Swiatek will take on Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the round of 16.
In the evening session, fourth-seeded American Jessica Pegula was forced off the court mid-match because of rain and the threat of lightning.
Pegula had rallied to take the second set 6-3 in her meeting with Magda Linette, leaving their match all square after the Pole won the first set 7-6 (7-5).
The match between Denmark’s Clara Tauson, who reached the semi-finals at last week’s Canadian Open, and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova was moved to Wednesday.
In other completed matches, Russian-born French player Varvara Gracheva upset 11th-seeded Czech Karolina Muchova 6-2 6-4, and seventh-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini proved too strong for American 26th seed Ashlyn Krueger, posting a 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 victory.
Tuesday’s rain-enforced suspension was the latest in a string of interruptions at the Cincinnati Open this week.
In the men’s competition on Monday, world No.1 Jannik Sinner’s win over Canadian Gabriel Diallo was delayed by a fire alarm, before the players continued through the noise.
There was also a one-hour delay because of a power outage.
Content Source: www.perthnow.com.au