Speaking after her 6-3 3-6 6-2 win over Sorana Cirstea on Monday, Gauff explained that she had received some unique advice on social media which she put into action.
She said: “I think, except maybe the first set, I thought maybe I served well, made her have to play a lot of returns and I was hitting my spots when I wanted to. I think the variety, I did a couple of serve-and-volleys which is something that I think I can do more. Yeah, the match point, I just told myself to go to the net. I feel like I’m a hard person to pass, so I think in a pressure moment, if they hit a great passing shot, you clap your hands and move on.“Honestly, I saw a tweet that said I should go to the net more. I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re right! I win a lot in that point’, so I honestly was thinking about that on match point, and I was just hoping I didn’t miss the volley in the net, because I’ve done that a couple times! But I was just focused on just hitting it over the net.”