Putintseva dethrones defending champion Gauff in Cincinnati

Birmingham champion Yulia Putintseva won the last four games to knock 2023 champion and No.2 seed Coco Gauff out of the Cincinnati Open on Thursday, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

Playing this week for the first time since reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon -- where she knocked out World No.1 Iga Swiatek along the way -- Putintseva beat Great Britain's Harriet Dart from a set behind in the opening round before stunning Gauff from 4-2 down the final set for her 13th career Top 10 win. 

Cincinnati: Scores | Draws | Order of Play

Putintseva was previously 0-3 against Gauff in her career, all on clay -- but after picking up her second career win over a reigning World No.1 against Swiatek on the grass, earned her second career win over a World No.2 against Gauff. Prior to this season, Putintseva hadn't beaten a Top 5 player in a completed match since 2019, but is now 7-26 in her career against such opponents.

Putintseva capitalized on more than 50 unforced errors from an erratic Gauff's racquet, including nine double faults. Two of those came in the seventh game of the final set, affording a frustrated Putintseva -- who was broken at love at 2-2 -- an opportunity to reset and get back into the match.

"I think the level of the game was high, especially for those conditions -- the courts are lightning fast, so I'm pretty happy to get through," Putintseva said post-match.

"The whole match was a roller coaster. At this point, I was thinking I broke her a couple of times and it was not something special to break someone again. She hit two double faults, and I hit two good returns. She mishit it, the game changed immediately.

"On these kind of courts, you have to stay really focused, because the game can change quickly." 

Putintseva will face Washington D.C. champion Paula Badosa in the Round of 16 -- the last Top 5 player Putintseva beat (via retirement in 2022, when she was ranked No.3) before this season. The Spaniard eased past No. 13 seed Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2 earlier in the day to improve to 8-1 in the summer hard-court season. 

More notable results from Day 3 in Cincinnati:

• Taylor Townsend continued her summer surge, defeating No.9 seed Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 to her third consecutive Round of 16 on the North American hard courts. She will face either Toronto champion Jessica Pegula or last year's Cincinnati runner-up Karolina Muchova for a spot in her second straight WTA 1000 quarterfinal.

• No.5 seed Jasmine Paolini and Mirra Andreeva will feature in the Round of 16, in a rematch of their Roland Garros semifinal. Paolini defeated Anastasia Potapova 7-6(2), 6-3, while Andreeva moved past 2016 champion Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-3.