Gauff falls and Ostapenko complains to the public: “It looked like football”

Coco Gauff does not finish starting at home. The American, resident in Delray Beach, a city in the same state in which this WTA 1,000 in Miami is played, she is not able to achieve good results near her home, and in this 2023 she fell prematurely again. The 19-year-old tennis player and sixth in the world ranking lost in the third round of the Florida event against the Russian Anastasia Potapova, 21 and 27th seed, by 6-7 (8), 7-5 and 6-2 in 2h39 of game.

Despite taking the lead by taking the first set in a more than suffered way (he saved two set balls against in the tie-break), Gauff did not have a good time at any time against a fierce rival and ended up devastated. Potapova, who in the second round starred in a tense match against the Ukrainian Kostyuk, nullified the power of the American with her serve and achieved six breaks, more than enough to surprise and achieve the third victory of her career against a top rival -10. The Russian waits in the round of 16 for the Chinese Qinwen Zheng, 20 years old and 23rd in the world, who defeated the Russian Liudmila Samsonova, 12th favorite, 5-7, 7-6(5) and 6-3 in 3h08 . There were no surprises in the all-American duel of the day, in which Jessica Pegula, third favourite, beat Danielle Collins 6-1, 7-6(0) in 1h26.

The spicy point of the day was the match between the Estonian Jelena Ostapenko, 25 years old and 22nd in the WTA, with the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, 26 and 14th. Ostapenko, a finalist in Miami in 2018, took victory in a tight match (6-2, 4-6 and 6-3 in 2h19) and showed that he had taken the measure of Haddad Maia, who has won in the four duels between the two. The match was hot, especially due to the constant cheers of the Brazilian public for their player, something that Ostapenko criticized in his subsequent speech. “It looked like a football match”, said the Latvian, who will face the winner of Liu-Trevisan in the round of 16.