By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday August 26, 2024
Defending champion Coco Gauff eased into the second round, dropping just two games against France's Varvara Gracheva on Ashe.
Photo Source: Al Bello/Getty
Defending champion Coco Gauff didn’t come to New York on a hot streak, but she’s hoping a return to the scene of her lone Grand Slam triumph will kick her back into gear.
So far, so good.
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Gauff stretched her US Open winning streak to eight with a 6-2, 6-0 win over France’s Varvara Gracheva, setting a second-round clash with Tatjana Maria of Germany.
“Can't ask for a better start to this tournament, so hoping to continue to get better as the week, two weeks go by,” the No.3 seed told reporters.
By winning Gauff avoided joining the three women who lost in the first round of their US Open title defense: Svetlana Kuznetsova (2005), Angelique Kerber (2017) and Emma Raducanu (2022).
It hasn’t been easy for Gauff to find her best form of late. She had lost three of her last four matches heading into the Open, but earned her 15th career win at the US Open, becoming the youngest woman to record that many wins in Flushing Meadows since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.
Gauff saved all eight break points she faced, converted five break points of her own (from 10 opportunities) and hit 16 winners against just five from the World No.66. She improves to 58-19 at the majors ( 15-4 at the Open).
Gauff has spent much work on making sure she is mentally prepared for the challenge of defending her title. Rather than put undue pressure on herself, she told reporters she is trying to take a step back and realize that she has nothing to prove to anybody but herself.
“The last couple of weeks were tough, and I was like: I have to do this and do that, but I don't have to prove anything to anyone except myself,” she said. “So this whole week or two weeks are just about proving all the expectations that I have on myself.
“I think just learning and just realizing that I have a lot left to give this game, and whether that's going to happen this year or in the future, I have many more years coming back here, and I'm not gonna win every year. So I think just that perspective, and just having the belief that I can but not the expectation that I should.”