By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Coco Gauff crushed 19-year-old qualifier Anca Todoni 6-2, 6-1 and has permitted just six games in two wins to reach the Wimbledon third round.
Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport
Roof-scraping shots are a rarity at Wimbledon.
US Open champion Coco Gauff framed a forehand return today that floated so high it nearly flirted with the retractable roof above No. 1 Court.
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Even on mis-hits, Gauff showed a high ceiling soaring past Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni 6-2, 6-1 rising into the Wimbledon third round for the fourth time in five appearances.
It was a romp through the lawn for Gauff, who has won 19 of her last 21 major matches.
Executing efficiently, Gauff overwhelmed the 19-year-old Grand Slam debutant converting five of nine break points and denying both break points she faced in a 66-minute sweep.
“I’m happy with how I played,” Gauff said in her on-court interview. “I do think I could have played cleaner at some moments, but overall I’m happy to get through to the third round.”
Though Gauff served just 43 percent, she was nearly untouchable when landing the first serve.
The Delray Beach-born baseliner won 17 of 20 first-serve points and 16 of 27 second-serve points.
Of course, Gauff’s western-grip forehand, predicated on an elaborate swing, and her sometime suspect second serve will be tested by big hitters as she goes deeper in the draw.
Yet, if you’re on Team Gauff and you see she’s dropped just six games in two dominant victories, you have to be happy with her performance—and potential progress through the bottom half of the draw, which is the opportunity half of the draw with two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka withdrawing due to a shoulder injury and AO finalist Qinwen Zheng falling in the first round.
The 20-year-old Gauff said she’s applying perspective to manage the pressure of expectations as one of the favorites to raise the Rosewater Dish.
“I think overall I just learned about life a lot. I guess [that’s] what you do as you get older,” Gauff said. “I just realized that yes, what I do I’m very passionate about but it’s not ever that serious and sometimes the world can make you feel like there’s so much pressure, there’s so much expectation but at the end of the day it’s a game.
“It’s sport and I’m very, very privileged and honored to be playing out here in front of you guys. This is the court where I first started here at Wimbledon so Court 1 is always a special place for me to play on.”
Though her first serve went MIA in the fourth game, Gauff saved a couple of break points working her way through a near nine-minute hold for 3-1.
Five years after she charmed the tennis world as a 313th-ranked teenager on an inspired run that saw her play through Wimbledon qualifying, upset Venus Williams in the first round and reach the fourth round where she fell to eventual-champion Simona Halep, Gauff is a much more polished player these days.
The only woman to contest Grand Slam semifinals at the last three majors, Gauff came out playing deep drives down the middle before exploring the corners to test the movement of the tall Romanian qualifier.
The second seed’s quick court coverage and baseline consistency compelled Todoni to go for big strikes early in rallies, well aware she was losing longer exchanges.
Gauff broke again for at 30 extending her lead to 4-1.
Targeting Todoni’s long forehand swing, Gauff forced three forehand errors serving out the 39-minute opener at 15.
Though Gauff served just 38 percent in the first set, she controlled the center of the court once the ball was in play. Gauff more than doubled an erratic Todoni winner total—9 to 4—in the first set.
Three games into the second set, Gauff was jammed by a body serve and framed a forehand return that floated so high it sailed through the rafters and seemed it may scrape the retractable roof covering the court.
Both women paused as if jointly wondering if and when the spinning yellow felt would reappear and waited for the ball to land. When it finally did Todoni eventually netted a backhand on her second groundstroke.
"I definitely shanked the ball," Gauff told ESPN analyst and Hall of Famer Chrissie Evert afterward. "And I didn't know the rule. And I lost the ball so I stopped and then we both kind of stepped. And then the ref didn't say anything.
"I asked her after the match and she said if it doesn't hit anything, it's still in play. I couldn't tell if it didn't hit anything or not because the bar was blocking it...I lost sight of the ball which is why I thought it hit something. I did feel bad because she deserved the point."
The Romanian qualifier withstood that wild rainbow return holding for 1-2 in the second set.
In her Grand Slam main-draw debut, the world No. 142 tried taking the action to Gauff, but was spraying way too many balls. A Todoni error gave Gauff a one-set, 4-1 lead after a mere 58 minutes.
The Gauff forehand and second serve are often under the microscope.
Today, she hit both of those strokes with confidence against an inexperienced teenage opponent.
Two adjustments Gauff has made through two rounds:
1. She's used the slice forehand frequently to combat low balls.
2. She's not hesitating to attack net on mid-court balls: Gauff won five of six trips to net today and suggests she'll be moving forward more frequently.
"I do like going to the net. It is something I am working on," Gauff said. "Obviously, like, playing doubles has helped me a lot. I do feel like I start volleying better once I get some doubles matches in.
"Maybe I'll do it some more because I think I play doubles tomorrow. I just always find that I just feel more comfortable once I get, like, one doubles match in because I get some balls hit at me and I can kind of feel it out.
"I do like being at the net, especially on grass."
Gauff dabbed a final drop shot closing in 66 minutes.
The 2022 French Open finalist Gauff will face British qualifier Sonay Kartal for a fourth-round spot.
Kartal defeated Frenchwomen Clara Burel 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.