Indian Wells Open 2026: Coco Gauff and Victoria Mboko advance to women’s singles third round with straight set wins
U.S. tennis star Coco Gauff overcame service woes to see off Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova in straight sets 6-3, 7-6[5] at Indian Wells on Friday (6 March), advancing to the third round of the women’s singles tournament alongside fellow North American star Victoria Mboko.While she failed to produce a single ace during her opening match in the California desert – entering the draw after receiving a bye in the first round – Gauff managed to win a remarkable 61.5 percent of points when she had first serve.Surviving an up-and-down first set without conceding too many games, she found play much more difficult in the second, with Rakhimova building a three game lead at 2-5.But the two-time Grand Slam singles champion dug deep, finding the sort of form that drove her to those titles to win three-consecutive games, eventually forcing a tie-break at 6-6 in the second set.With the partisan home crowd on her side, she managed to power past Rakhimova. She won the tie-break 7-4 to close out the match in just under two hours.Speaking after the match, Gauff provided some insight into her mental approach during the second set: “I lost like five games in a row, so I was like ‘Okay, if I can lose five games in a row then I can win five games in a row.’”She’ll meet the winner of an intriguing second round match between Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska and Filipina rising star Alexandra Eala in the third round.Gauff will also be joined by Canada’s Victoria Mboko, who earned her own nail-biting win against unseeded Australian Kimberly Birrell on Friday.Producing seven aces to win 61.5 percent of points on service – while also conceding five double faults – Mboko controlled play when it counted most, winning the match in straight sets 6-4, 7-6[5] to stay alive at Indian Wells.She’ll face 23rd seed Anna Kalinskaya in the third round, as play continues under the warm California sun.
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