WIMBLEDON, England — Second-seeded Coco Gauff ended the dream run of British qualifier Sonay Kartal as the American marched into the fourth round of Wimbledon with a 6-4, 6-0 victory on Friday.
Gauff was pushed hard by a player who began the week ranked 298th in the world, but once she banked the opening set, the outcome of the match was never in doubt.
“I thought I played really well and she was playing a high level especially in the first set,” U.S. Open champion Gauff said on Court One under the closed roof.
“She wasn’t giving me much to work with and not letting me settle. I felt like I was going for the right shots but was just missing, but eventually I found it.”
Gauff reached the fourth round as a qualifier in 2019 when she was 15 and also got to that stage in 2021 but has never progressed to the quarterfinals.
Standing in the way now is 19th-seeded American Emma Navarro who beat Russia’s Diana Shnaider 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Friday.
American 12-seed Madison Keys beat Ukrainian 18-seed Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-3 to reach the fourth round where she will take on French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini, who beat Bianca Andreescu 7-6 (4), 6-1.
Spain’s Paula Badosa dumped out 14-seed Daria Kasatkina, beating her 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-4 in the third round. Lulu Sun defeated Zhu Lin 7-6 (4), 7-6 (6).