Third-seeded Coco Gauff survived a tense encounter against fellow American Iva Jovic in the Round of 16 at the Italian Open on Monday in Rome, winning 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 after saving a match point.
Jovic, 18, pushed Gauff to the brink, breaking serve in the second set and serving for the match at 5-3. She held a 40-30 advantage, but Gauff fended off the match point and, after three deuces, broke back to stay alive. The teenager then required a medical timeout for her finger, and her momentum stalled as the more experienced Gauff seized control, reeling off the last four games of the third set to close out the victory.
“Honestly, on that match point, my head was almost in the locker room,” Gauff said with a laugh afterward. “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. I think she maybe dropped her level a little when she had the lead, which helped me get back into the match.”
Gauff converted 8 of 13 break points and capitalized on Jovic’s 10 double faults. Her quarterfinal opponent will be eighth-seeded Mirra Andreeva of Russia, who defeated Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-3.
In other Round of 16 action, fourth-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland rolled past Japan’s Naomi Osaka 6-2, 6-1, as Osaka committed 20 unforced errors in the first set alone. Swiatek will face fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula, who eliminated Austria’s Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Two former Rome champions advanced in straight sets and will meet in the quarterfinals: second-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan dispatched Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-2 in 58 minutes, while seventh-seeded Elina Svitolina beat another Czech, Nikola Bartunkova, 6-2, 6-3.
“We know each other well,” Rybakina said of Svitolina, whom she leads 4-3 in career meetings. “I will try to do my best. I’ll try to serve well, stay aggressive as always, recover and hopefully it’s going to go my way.”
The final quarterfinal matchup features an upset pair: unseeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia overwhelmed Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya 6-1, 6-2, and Romanian 26th seed Sorana Cirstea beat Czech 13th seed Linda Noskova 6-2, 6-4.
