(Reuters) – American Coco Gauff overcame late nerves to beat Greek Maria Sakkari 7-6(1) 6-2 and reach the last 16 at Indian Wells on Monday, as her compatriot Madison Keys held off Belgian Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-4.
Third seed Gauff was in fine form until the final game, where she produced six double faults before closing it out on her sixth match point. She will next play Swiss Belinda Bencic.
“Except the last game I thought I played a great match. Just trying to look at the positives,” Gauff said after securing the win with a forehand winner.
“Obviously I was a bit disappointed with the last game but that’s just the perfectionist in me.”
Gauff had revenge on her mind in front of the home crowd after losing to Sakkari in the semi-final last year and showed her mettle as she won six points in a row to triumph in the tiebreak.
After trading breaks again early in the second set, Gauff broke Sakkari to love in the fifth game and looked ready to run away with the momentum from there.
But the serving struggles she has fought mightily to overcome undermined her best efforts at the finish line and she was forced to save four break points in the final game to keep it to two sets.
“Always an honour and privilege to play in front of this crowd,” said Gauff, giving credit to the partisan U.S. crowd that powered her over through the finish.
Earlier in the day, Keys saved 12 of the 15 break points she faced to secure her 14th straight match victory, despite letting four match points slip through her fingers in the second set.
The fifth seed, who lost to Mertens in their two previous meetings, sent over five aces to set up a fourth-round meeting with the winner of a match between compatriot Emma Navarro and Croatian Donna Vekic.
On the men’s side, Briton Jack Draper took down home hope Jenson Brooksby 7-5 6-4, winning more than three-quarters of his service points.
Highlights for the evening programme include a clash between Canadian Denis Shapovalov and four-times major winner Carlos Alcaraz, while Italian sixth seed Jasmine Paolini plays Romanian Jaqueline Cristian.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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