Coco Gauff battled through another hard-fought contest at the Canadian Open to reach the Round of 16 stage.
The American top seed's 4-6 7-5 6-2 win over the unseeded Veronika Kudermetova on Thursday (July 31), follows on from her gruelling three-set victory over compatriot Danielle Collins in her opening match.
The latest performance from the two-time Grand Slam winner in Montreal included her having struggles with her serve again, as she committed 14 double-faults. She committed nine more against Collins.
Gauff did got off to a strong start against Kudermetova, as she landed an early break, before seeing herself soon go 4-1 up. However, Kudermetova managed to win five successive games to take the opening set.
The Russian-born player then broke Gauff in the opening game of the second set to leave the top seed in real danger of an exit.
Kudermetova had the chance to go up 4-1 in the second set, but she failed to convert a break point as Gauff held her serve, than the American landed a break of her own in the following game to level the set 3-3.
Kudermetova failed to convert three further break points in the second set, as Gauff levelled proceedings to force a deciding set.
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The final set saw Gauff in much more control as she landed a break in her opponent's first service game.
The reigning French Open winner then held her serve throughout the set, before converting a second match point on Kudermetova's serve in the eighth game to secure passage to the Round of 16.
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What Gauff said about her display and who is next up for her
Gauff touched on her serving troubles post-match, saying: "It does give positives that I am winning these matches having literally one part of my game on a crutch."
"If I can stand on both feet, then I can only imagine that it will be a lot more straightforward and a lot easier for me."
A match against unseeded Canadian teenager, Victoria Mboko, awaits Gauff in the next round of the WTA Masters 1000 event on Saturday (August 2).
The 21-year-old will be hoping she can eradicate the mass number of double-faults from her game before the US Open takes place towards the end of this month.
While Gauff avoided an upset in Montreal, fourth seed, Mirra Andreeva was knocked out by McCartney Kessler (32), and eighth seed, Emma Navarro, lost to Dayana Yasremska (30).
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