Indian Wells, March 7 -- Coco Gauff battled through service struggles to defeat Kamilla Rakhimova of Uzbekistan 6-3, 7-6(5) and advance to the third round of the women's singles event at the Indian Wells Open on Friday.
Despite failing to produce an ace in her opening match at the California tournament, after receiving a first-round bye, the American star won an impressive 61.5 percent of points on her first serve to secure victory.
Gauff navigated an inconsistent first set without dropping too many games and claimed it 6-3. However, the second set proved far more challenging as Rakhimova surged ahead to take a 5-2 lead.
The two-time Grand Slam champion then mounted a strong comeback, winning three consecutive games to level the score an...