Coco Gauff was rusty on serve and struggled to produce her best tennis but the American prodigy prevailed 6-3 6-7(6) 7-6(5) over Swiss Jil Teichmann to reach the second round of the Gippsland Trophy in Melbourne on Monday.
Serving for a 5-2 lead in the second set, 16-year-old Gauff was broken with a double-fault and world number 57 Teichmann scrapped hard to level the match at the Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park.
Gauff ramped up the pressure in the deciding tiebreak, however, to book a clash with Briton Katie Boulter in the WTA 500 event, one of a slew of warmups being played at Melbourne Park in the leadup to next week’s Australian Open.