TENNIS: Ruthless Gauff cruises past Danilovic into Australian Open third round

MELBOURNE — Third seed Coco Gauff defeated Serbian Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.

Danilovic, who had eliminated Venus Williams in the first round, struggled against the American star. Her chances of another upset were slim after just 22 minutes, as she found herself trailing 5-0. A double fault on set point gave Gauff the early lead.

The second set offered no relief for Danilovic. Gauff broke early again and quickly took a 3-0 lead. Danilovic couldn’t match Gauff’s court coverage and precise groundstrokes.

Gauff later converted another break point to close out the match and secure a third-round showdown with fellow American Hailey Baptiste.

-Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford/Reuters