Gauff and Swiatek go ahead in Adelaide tournament

The victories of the Polish Iga Swiatek and the American Coco Gauff marked the second day of the Adelaide tournament, although the American had to suffer to move on.

Swiatek, 19, current Roland Garros champion, defeated American Madison Brengle, from the qualifying round, 6-3, 6-4. While, Gauff, 16, was forced to play three sets against Italian Jasmine Paolini after wasting a match point in the second quarter, although he ended up winning 6-4, 6-7 (4) and 6-2.

Fifth seed Swiatek, who participates in Adelaide after being eliminated in the round of 16 at the Australian Open, beat Brengle in 73 minutes, avenging herself for the defeat the American inflicted on her three years ago in their only previous encounter, which occurred at the ITF Circuit in Charleston.

“Madison is the type of player to use her opponent's power, so I had to stay calm,” Swiatek said in his on-court interview after the game.

Swiatek's winning streak at the Grand Slams ended at the hands of Simona Halep in the Melbourne fourth round, but prior to that loss, she had won 10 in a row in the greats, dating back to his great title run at Roland Garros at the end of last season. Now she will face Australian Maddison Inglis.

Gauff had come out of the qualifying phase, with a comeback in the last round, and needed two and a half hours to overcome Paolini already in the main frame. His next rival will be the Croatian Petra Martic, seed number 6, who also survived a tough duel in the first round, by defeating Russian Liudmila Samsonova, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5.

Without Spanish and Latin American players in the draw, the Australian Ashleigh Barty and the Swiss Belinda Bencic are the first two seeds of this tournament.