Match point against yourself? Not only for Cori Gauff (almost) no problem
Cori Gauff beat Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round of Dubai after parrying off two match points. 15 other players have already achieved something similar in the still young 2021 season.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Mar 09, 2021, 12:31 am
First of all: The normal case in professional women's tennis is still that the player who scores match points also leaves the field as the winner in the end. And so Cori Gauff had to fend off two of the Russian woman in the first round of the WTA Tour 1000 tournament in Dubai against Ekaterina Alexandrova after a 5-1 lead and four match points on her side in order to win the match. As a rule, however, it also looks like the 17-year-old American against Maria Sakkari in Abu Dhabi, against Katie Boulter at the Gippsland Trophy in Melbourne, against Elina Svitolina at the Australian Open or most recently in the semi-finals in Adelaide Belinda Benci c: The opponent works out one or more match points. And then wins too.
In the still young 2021 season, however, there were 15 other players in addition to Gauff who moved very close to the edge of the sporting abyss: Above all Naomi Osaka, who had to fend off two match points against Garbine Muguruza in the round of 16 of the Australian Open. And not only won this match, but also the entire tournament.
Also Azarenka and Kontaveit with comebacks
The early accumulation of comebacks was due a little bit to the special circumstances in Australia: In the preparation week before the first major, a few matches had to be decided in the champions tiebreaker. The chance that a player in this format will come back after match point is much higher. This is what happened with Viktoria Azarenka against Yulia Putintseva and Anett Kontaveit against Maria Sakkari, who was able to fend off two match points each in a short run.
In Dubai, on the other hand, everything is as usual. And Cori Gauff has the next interesting task ahead of her on Tuesday: She will open Court 2 at 12 p.m. local time against the 2019 French Open finalist, Marketa Vondrousova. Another drama can by no means be ruled out.