A week ago in Montreal, Coco Gauff exited the tournament with 42 double faults in three matches.

And when the Hologic WTA Tour’s leader in doubles (293) hit three of them in a single game Sunday at the Cincinnati Open, pulses around P&G Center Court quickened.

In the end, though, the No. 2-seeded Gauff mastered herself — and opponent Wang Xinyu — with a no-drama 6-3, 6-2 victory in 70 minutes. She’ll meet No. 32 Dayana Yastremska, a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 winner over Viktoriya Tomova, on Tuesday.

Gauff has beaten Yastremska three of four times.

Gauff is one of eight Americans in the PIF WTA Rankings Top 50, and the fifth to advance to the third round. Saturday saw No. 5 Amada Anisimova, No. 6 Madison Keys and wild card Taylor Townsend get through. On Sunday, Gauff was joined by another 21-year-old, Ashlyn Krueger, who was a 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 winner over Anastasija Sevastova.

Later, No. 4 Jessica Pegula equaled her former doubles partner with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Kimberly Birrell. Next for Pegula is No. 31 Magda Linette, who beat Rebecca Sramkova 7-6 (4), 6-0.

Only Aryna Sabalenka (47) and Iga Swiatek (44) have won more matches this year at the WTA level than Pegula’s 37.

No. 8 seed Emma Navarro fell to qualifier Ella Seidel 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Seidel, a 20-year-old German ranked No. 124, gets the winner of the later match between Americans Caty McNally and McCartney Kessler.

Yastremska overcomes Tomova, sets Gauff rematch in Cincinnati

Six more Americans were playing later matches.

For Gauff, it was a matter of playing better in the big moments. 

She converted each of the five break points Wang offered and saved five of seven.

After serving eight double faults in her first three service games, Gauff had zero the rest of the way.

Coming in, the two had split matches, but it’s worth noting they both came on grass — both in Berlin, 2022 and 2025. Gauff, always on firmer footing on hard courts, became the youngest ever to take the Cincinnati title two years ago and went on to win the US Open.

Wang was looking for her second career win over a Top 10 player, after defeating Jessica Pegula in Wuhan last year.

There was a run of five consecutive service breaks in the first set, but Gauff had three of them. Steadier in the second, Gauff scored two more breaks but Wang failed to earn even a single opportunity.

Gauff has now won her sixth opening match in eight WTA 1000s this year.