French Open 2023: Coco Gauff rallies to beat Andreeva in all-teen showdown
American Coco Gauff rallied from a tough opening set to beat Mirra Andreeva of Russia in an all-teen showdown in the third round of the French Open on Saturday.
Experience eventually told as the 19-year-old Gauff, who was the runner-up at Roland Garros last year, prevailed 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1, sealing the result with a cross-court backhand winner.
That ended an impressive Grand Slam debut for the 16-year-old Andreeva, who earlier this week became the the youngest player to win a match in the women's main draw at the French Open since 2005.
Last year's men's finalist Casper Ruud also had to recover from losing the opening set to beat Zhang Zhizhen, ending a strong run by the Chinese player.
The fourth-seeded Ruud, who lost to Rafael Nadal in last year's final, won 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.
I'm very happy with being through the first three matches. It's tough, Ruud said. "It's been much more pressure, obviously, playing this year compared to last year.
"Last year, I could sort of just do my