Coco Gauff on Wednesday said that a heated exchange with the chair umpire midway through her match with Karolina Pliskova had spurred her on to complete a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory and advance to the quarter-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The US Open champion lost the first set, but was leading 4-2 in the second when her first serve at deuce, which Pliskova returned into the net, was called out.
The American challenged the call and her review was successful, but instead of awarding Gauff the point French chair umpire Pierre Bacchi told the 19-year-old to replay it.
Photo: Reuters
That sparked a lengthy back-and-forth between the pair, with Gauff’s requests to speak to a supervisor denied by the umpire.
“It definitely gave me some adrenaline,” said Gauff, who eventually composed herself and won the replayed point. “Luckily I was able to overcome that pretty quickly. I’m glad I was able to reset.”
“I think it just fueled me,” she added.
“Maybe I dragged it out a little longer than I needed to, but I did what I felt was best in that moment,” Gauff added.
She was to play Anna Kalinskaya after press time last night.
The others to advance were Marketa Vondrousova, Jasmine Paolini, Elena Rybakina, Sorana Cirstea, Iga Swiatek and Zheng Qinwen.
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