London, July 1 (IANS) Seventh seed Coco Gauff of the United States staged a remarkable comeback, winning six straight points in the final-set tiebreak to secure a hard-fought three-set victory over Sloana Sierra in a gripping battle in the Ladies’ Singles second round at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

Argentina’s Sierra pushed Gauff to the limit, nearly pulling off an upset before the 22-year-old American fought back to win the match 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 in a victory after 2 hours and 8 minutes and reached the third round at the All-England Club. Gauff’s resilience shone through in the pitched battle fought on No.1 Court as she advanced to the next round.

Sierra has played Gauff twice in the season so far, and things have progressively become more difficult for the American each time. She had gotten progressively more comfortable with the daunting prospect of playing the two-time Grand Slam singles champion, and that was evident in the scoreline.

After winning just two games in their first-ever meeting at the United Cup in January, Sierra pushed Gauff to the brink at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, holding a 3-0 final-set lead before losing six of the last seven games.

This turned out closer on Wednesday. Trailing 5-3 in the final set– and 7-4 in the subsequent deciding tiebreak — Gauff won six straight points in the thrilling conclusion to claim a thrilling victory in 2 hours and 8 minutes.

Despite losing in three tense sets to Anastasia Potapova last month at Roland Garros, Gauff’s latest final-set heroics continued a trend for her on the biggest stages. She is now 22-7 in three-set matches at Grand Slams in her career.

Earlier, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka survived a spirited fightback from American McCartney Kessler to book her place in the third round of Wimbledon, recovering from 5-2 down in the second set and saving four set points before sealing a hard-fought 6-1, 7-6(9) victory.

Sabalenka will now face former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko. Ostapenko delivered one of the day’s strongest performances, defeating Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic 6-2, 6-0 in just 66 minutes.

The Latvian wiped away memories of her error-filled first-round win over Harriet Dart, in which she had 13 double faults. She hit an impressive 34 winners against just 10 unforced errors.

–IANS

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