Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff love Indian Wells for different reasons, and it showed in their second-round wins

Highlights: Gauff d. Garcia in three sets

Two young and talented Americans won second-round matches Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open—and they both ended them with a 6-1 set—but that was about all that their victories had in common.

Such was the disparate manner in which 17-year-old Coco Gauff and 20-year-old Amanda Anisimova prevailed in Indian Wells. Gauff recovered from a lopsided second-set tiebreaker loss to defeat Caroline Garcia, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1, while Anisimova had no trouble with 30th-seeded Camila Giorgi, triumphing 6-4, 6-1.

Gauff, who is also playing doubles this week with Leylah Fernandez in her tournament debut, felt more of the crowd support she craves in Stadium 1.

"Playing matches with nerves, it's not easy to put on a face,” she said on the court afterward. “I know it seems like I'm calm sometimes, but I'm really freaking out. I try to not let you guys see, or most importantly, let my opponent see, and I think that got me through.

“I always say the crowd makes a difference in a match—and I'm happy this crowd loves me. It's my first time playing in front of you guys, and I like you back."

Anisimova began her tournament with a 6-1, 6-1 thumping of another 17-year-old American, Katrina Scott, but her straight-set win over the battle-tested Italian may have been even more impressive.

“I’m super happy that I was able to win in two sets, because I’ve had a lot of hard three-setters this year,” Anisimova said on Tennis Channel afterward. “Just being able to stay consistent the entire match is something I’ve worked hard on.”

One of those three-setters came at the last significant hard-court tournament, the US Open. There, Anisimova took fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova—the top seed at Indian Wells—to a third-set tiebreaker. The match couldn’t have been closer, but it made Anisimova’s 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7) loss all the more painful.

Earlier in the summer, Anisimova lost another tight contest to Pliskova, in the round of 16 in Canada, 6-1, 7-6 (8).

Should the two happen to meet again this week, it wouldn’t come until the semifinals. That’s a ways to go for Anisimova—who faces Barbora Krejcikova next—but the surface suits her style.

“I was saying the other day that it’s a little bit of a secret,” Anisimova said about the courts at Indian Wells, “they’re pretty slow, and I think it fits me because I like to have more time on my shots.”

For Anisimova, slow and steady may win her race—even if she’s breezed through the first two rounds.