MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Seeded women continue to have major struggles at the Miami Open.

Coco Gauff isn’t among them.

The 14th-seeded American, whose home is about a 45-minute drive north from where she’s playing this event, got past Wang Qiang of China 7-5, 6-4 on Friday — avenging a first-round loss to her in the Australian Open earlier this year.

“I think I hit a lot of good shots on the run,” Gauff said.

Gauff, who turned 18 earlier this month, made her WTA Tour debut three years ago at the Miami Open. She reached the second round that year, was ousted in the second round last year and now is in the third round at Miami for the first time.

More than half of the women who were seeded going into the tournament won’t even be around for the first weekend, with two more — No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and No. 24 Sorana Cirstea of Romania — getting eliminated in second-round matches Friday.

Their losses meant 13 seeded women have now lost their opening matches at the tournament, after 11 — including top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka — were defeated Thursday alone. Another four seeded women have withdrawn with either injuries or ailments, meaning no more than 15 of the original 32 seeds will get to the third round.

Shelby Rogers of the U.S. used 15 aces — and saved nine of the 10 break points she faced — to beat Ostapenko, 6-3, 7-6 (0). It was Rogers’ second win over Ostapenko this month, after also topping her in a second-round matchup at Indian Wells.

“There are no easy matches out here,” said Rogers, who has now made the third round at Miami for just the second time; she also did it in 2017. “Whether you play the same people week to week or not, you’ve still got to go out there and perform. I just tried to focus on my side of the court and did the best I could.”

China’s Zhang Shuai needed only 53 minutes to beat Cirstea, 6-1, 6-1.

Early women’s seeded second-round winners Friday included No. 21 Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, who held a 5-1 lead in the first set when Hungary’s Dalma Galfi retired.

Later Friday, No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland can clinch the world’s No. 1 ranking if she defeats Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland in a second-round match. It’s Swiatek’s first match of the tournament; she, like all seeds, got a bye into the second round.

Swiatek would be assured of moving into the No. 1 spot because Ashleigh Barty, who had held the top spot until her retirement announcement earlier this week, has asked to be removed from the next set of rankings. The updated list will come out after the Miami Open concludes.

“We’re going to definitely miss Ash on tour,” Gauff said.

In men’s second-round play Friday, No. 10 Cameron Norrie improved to 12-2 in his past 14 outings by beating fellow British player Jack Draper in straight sets. No. 31 Fabio Fognini also prevailed.

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