Andreescu aims to advance past Wimbledon 3rd round for 1st time after straight-sets win

Canada’s Bianca Andreescu advanced to the third round at Wimbledon with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) win over 26th seed Linda Novoska of the Czech Republic on Wednesday.

Andreescu won on her first match point, scoring her 28th winner on a backhand.

The 24-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., scored the only break of the match early to go up 2-0 in the first set. She held serve throughout, successfully defending all five break points she faced.

Andreescu will next face the winner of a match between seventh-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini, the French Open runner-up, and Belgium’s Greet Minnen, as she looks to advance past the third round at the All England Club for the first time.

The 2019 U.S. Open winner made her return at the French Open after missing nearly 10 months with a back injury, then opened the grass season with a runner-up performance at the Libema Open in the Netherlands.

WATCH: Andreescu takes 2nd-round match at Wimbledon:

Later Wednesday at the grass-court Grand Slam, Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime was set to finish a first-round match against Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis. The match was suspended due to darkness Tuesday with Auger-Aliassime leading 6-4, 7-5, 6-9 (11), 1-1.

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was scheduled for a second-round match with Germany’s Daniel Altmaier.

Gauff takes down Romanian qualifier

Coco Gauff likes No. 1 Court at Wimbledon.

It’s where she beat Venus Williams back in 2019 when Gauff made her Wimbledon debut at age 15.

On Wednesday, Gauff beat Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the third round at the All England Club.

“This is the court where I first started here at Wimbledon. Court 1 is always a special place for me to play on,” the 20-year-old Gauff said in her on-court interview.

The victory also allows Gauff, the No. 2 seed, to move another step away from last year’s first-round exit.

“Overall, I just learned about life a lot,” the U.S. Open champion said when asked about putting that three-set loss to Sofia Kenin behind her.

“I just realized that, yes, what I do I’m very passionate about, but it’s not ever that serious and sometimes the world can make you feel like there’s so much pressure, there’s so much expectation,” she said. “At the end of the [day], it’s a game. It’s sport.”

The 19-year-old Todoni is from Romania and was making her Grand Slam debut.

“I do think I could have played cleaner at some moments,” Gauff said.

Five years ago, Gauff beat Williams, a five-time Wimbledon champion, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round and eventually reached the last 16, all on her Grand Slam debut.

Alcaraz prevails in comeback fashion

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz trailed 6-5 in the first set before coming back to beat Alexsander Vukic 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-2, setting up a third-round meeting with No. 29 Frances Tiafoe after the American eliminated Borna Coric 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-3.

When told by the on-court interviewer that Tiafoe said he’s “coming after you,” the 21-year-old Spaniard replied with a smile: “I’m going for him.”

“We played a really good match in the U.S. Open,” the No. 3 seed said of their 2022 semifinal that Alcaraz won at Flushing Meadows.

Other results:

•  No. 11 Danielle Collins completed her first-round match, a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Clara Tauson. It had been suspended Tuesday night at 4-4 in the second set.
• No. 20 Beatriz Haddad Maia advanced to the third round by beating Magdalena Frech 7-5, 6-3.
• On the men’s side, No. 16 Ugo Humbert eliminated Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6 (9), 6-1, 6-3.