Ruthless Gauff cruises past Danilovic into Australian Open third round

MELBOURNE: Third seed Coco Gauff beat Serbian Olga Danilovic 6-2 6-2 to move into the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.

Danilovic had knocked out Venus Williams in the first round but her chances of beating another American Grand Slam champion looked slim after just 22 minutes when she found herself 5-0 down before a double fault on set point gave Gauff the lead.

There was no respite in the second set either as Gauff consolidated another early break to go 3-0 up, with Danilovic having no answer to her court coverage and precise groundstrokes.

Gauff then converted a break point to seal the match and book a third-round encounter with compatriot Hailey Baptiste.