Coco Gauff had to dig deep in her first match at the Canadian Open as she found a way to return to winning form.
She beat fellow American, Danielle Collins, 7-6 4-6 7-6 (7-2) in Tuesday's night session (July 29) in Montreal. The contest was gruelling on the two players as it lasted just short of three hours.
The top seed's opening-round performance at the WTA Masters 1000 event was full of mistakes, as her inconsistent serving caused her to record 23 double-faults.
The 21-year-old was also guilty of committing 74 unforced errors, while her second serve also had its issues. Collins had her struggles as well as she committed 13 double faults and 80 unforced errors.
The third set saw Collins put herself in prime position to pull of the upset as she broke Gauff to go up 6-5, and was serving for the set in the next game.
On two occasions in the deciding set's 12th game, the score was level at deuce, putting Collins just two points from victory.
However, Gauff was on the front foot in that game and never allowed her opponent to land a match point.
Gauff converted her fourth break point of that decisive game and took the deciding set to a tie-break. Here, she showed her quality as after the two players had two points each, she won the next five to comfortably take the tie-break and win the match.
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Reflecting on her win post-match, Gauff said: "It was a frustrating match for me. I felt I was practising well and then I don't think I transferred it today, but hopefully I got my bad match of the tournament out of the way."
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Return to winning form for Gauff after Wimbledon disappointment
Gauff's latest win is her first since she was victorious at the French Open final in June, where she came from a set down to beat Aryna Sabalenka and win her second Grand Slam singles title.
She was unable to carry over that momentum into the grass court season as she suffered first-round exits at both the German Open and Wimbledon.
The American's swift exit at Wimbledon was particularly disappointing as it is the one major where she is still yet to reach the quarter-final stage.
However, she will be hoping to continue her winning run in Montreal and do well at the Cincinnati Open next month, so she is in good form ahead of the US Open in late August.
Flushing Meadows was the site of her first Grand Slam win two years ago, when she defeated Sabalenka in the final.
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