ROME : Coco Gauff saved a match point before battling past fellow American Iva Jovic 5-7 7-5 6-2 on Monday to book her place in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open.
The third-seeded Gauff looked close to elimination when the 18-year-old Jovic led by a break in the second set and served for the match at 5-3.
Jovic reached match point at 40-30, but Gauff held firm and eventually broke back after a tense game featuring three deuces.
“Honestly on that match point my head was almost to the locker room,” Gauff said after the match.
“I was thinking, ‘Well, I’m going to hear a lot about this one.’ Then after, I don’t know, I was able to get through it.”
As momentum shifted, Jovic took a medical timeout for treatment on her finger, while Gauff grew stronger and dominated the deciding set by winning the final four games in succession.
Gauff converted eight of 13 break-point chances and was aided by 10 double faults from Jovic.
The American will next face eighth seed Mirra Andreeva, who defeated Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-3 6-3.
Elsewhere, fourth seed Iga Swiatek beat Japan’s Naomi Osaka 6-2 6-1 in a one-sided encounter.
Osaka struggled badly with unforced errors, committing 20 in the opening set alone.
Swiatek will meet fifth seed Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals after the American defeated Austria’s Anastasia Potapova 7-6(6) 6-2.
Second seed Elena Rybakina and seventh seed Elina Svitolina also advanced in straight sets to set up a quarterfinal meeting between two former Rome champions.
Rybakina eased past Czech player Karolina Pliskova 6-0 6-2 in just 58 minutes, while Svitolina beat another Czech opponent, Nikola Bartunkova, 6-2 6-3.
“We know each other well,” Rybakina said of Svitolina. “I’ll try to serve well, stay aggressive as always and hopefully it’s going to go my way.”
In other results, Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko upset 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya 6-1 6-2, while Romania’s Sorana Cirstea defeated Czech 13th seed Linda Noskova 6-2 6-4 to complete the quarterfinal lineup.
