French Open Champion Coco Gauff has advanced to the second round of the US Open, as she defeated Australian tennis star Ajla Tomljanic 6-4,6-7(2-7) at Flushing Meadows.
Gauff has been struggling with her serves lately, with the 21-year-old’s opening shot coming under particular scrutiny against Ajla Tomljanović, where her serve issues were noticeable despite her victory.
Speaking about improving her serves, this is what Gauff said: “Mentally it’s exhausting, but I’m trying. It wasn’t the best today, but at 30-30 [in the last game] it came in when it mattered. It’s an improvement.
“It was a tough match. I had chances for it to be straight sets. Ajla was tough, I felt like she was getting so many balls back. I’m happy to get through to the next round. I had so many chances. I was like, ‘eventually they’re going to come”.
Since winning the French Open, the American tennis player has won only 4 out of 8 matches, she suffered a disappointing loss in the first round at Wimbledon. Her poor serving and many double faults have been a big part of her problems.
After hitting 16 double faults in her round-of-16 loss to Jasmine Paolini in Cincinnati, Gauff decided to change her coaching team. She brought in MacMillan, the same coach that helped Aryna Sabalenka fix her serve in 2022 and improve her game.
Gauff will be hoping to defeat Donna Vekic as she aims for her second US Open title. She won her first title in 2023 which made her the youngest woman in history to win the tournament at the age of 19. Gauff and Vekić have faced each other twice.
Their first meeting came at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where Vekić pulled off an upset by defeating Gauff 7 6(9), 6 2 in the third round. The two met again later that year at the United Cup in December where Gauff bounced back with a strong performance, winning 6 4, 6 2 to level their head-to-head record at 1–1.
