World No 2 Coco Gauff battled through another tough three-setter Thursday, rallying from a set and a break down to beat Veronika Kudermetova and reach the fourth round of the WTA Canadian Open.
The top-seeded American, who won her second Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, again struggled with her serve but held her nerve for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory over former world No 9 Kudermetova.
"The goal of the game is to survive and advance," Gauff said. "It's not my best, but it was good enough for today and that's all I can ask for."
Gauff arrived in Montreal having lost her tournament openers at Wimbledon and Berlin in the wake of her French Open triumph.
She struggled mightily in her first match in Montreal but came up with a win over Danielle Collins despite 23 double faults.
The numbers weren't quite as ugly against Kudermetova, but 14 double faults were damaging enough. Seven of them came in the first set, as Gauff let a 4-1 lead get away.
Gauff dropped her serve to open the second set, but after breaking back to level at 3-3 she broke again to force the third set – where she seized a 2-0 lead and powered home.
"I'm sure everybody could read my body language," said Gauff, who admitted she "got a little bit upset" with herself.
"But mentally I'm very proud of myself. The fact that I'm winning these matches not feeling my best is definitely something to be proud of."
Her struggles on serve are especially frustrating, Gauff said, because she skipped last week's tournament in Washington to work on it and felt she had made progress.
"I just would like for it to transfer to the match," said Gauff, who next faces 18-year-old Canadian wild card Victoria Mboko, a 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 winner over Czech Marie Bouzkova.
"She's definitely playing like one of the top players in the world right now," Gauff said of Mboko, who took the American to three sets in Rome earlier this year.
Mboko kept her cool after dropping the first set to Bouzkova and was in position to take advantage when a thigh injury that required treatment clearly hindered the Czech later in the match.
KESSLER TOPS ANDREEVA
In other third-round action, American McCartney Kessler shocked world No 5 Mirra Andreeva, who got off to a strong start but couldn't hang on in a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 loss.
Andreeva, the 18-year-old Russian who electrified the WTA with back-to-back 1 000 level wins this year, jumped to a quick 3-1 lead, but Kessler twice regained a break and after Andreeva failed on two attempts to serve out the opening set the American won the last three points of the tiebreaker to pocket the set.
Kessler seized the initiative in the second, breaking Andreeva twice on the way to a 4-1 lead.
Making matters worse for Andreeva with the US Open coming up in August, she took a hard spill in the second set, taking a medical time out to have her left ankle bandaged.
Kessler will fight for her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal appearance against Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk, who beat Daria Kasatkina 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
China's Zhu Lin, whose ranking has plummeted to 493 after months sidelined by injury, advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands.
Zhu will face Spain's Jessic Bouzas, who beat Japanese qualifier Aoi Ito 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Ninth-seeded Elena Rybakina roared through the first set and held on in the second for a 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) victory over Jacqueline Cristian, lining up a meeting with Dayana Yastremska, who ousted eighth-seeded American Emma Navarro 7-5, 6-4.