Former champion Coco Gauff made it to the second round of the US Open after an intense and ‘mentally exhausting’ game against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.
She overcame self-inflicted errors to win 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 7-5 in a match that lasted 2hr 57min.
“It was a tough match. Ajla was tough, she was getting so many balls back,” 2023 US Open champion Gauff said after the game.
“It wasn’t the best but I’m happy to get through to the next round.”
Gauff had prepared for the US Open by shaking up her coaching team on the eve of the tournament in an effort to fix her shaky service game.
She replaced coach Matt Daly with Gavin MacMillan, a biomechanics specialist.
“I know when I did this, I was not going to maybe serve the best,” Gauff said. “I just felt like I don’t want to waste any more time.
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“I knew I had to make a quick decision because I knew he would be pretty sought after. I think hopefully this time next year I’ll be serving much better.”
The 21-year-old finished the game with a whopping 59 unforced errors and 10 double faults, was broken six times and heads to the second round.
As it was, Tomljanovic had her own problems, suffering eight breaks of serve and making 56 unforced errors before bowing out.
Gauff admitted: “Honestly it’s been really tough, mentally exhausting,” Gauff said. “But I’m trying. It wasn’t the best today, but it was an improvement on last week (in Cincinnati); I’m just trying to improve with each match.”
Gauff will face Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the next round. With input from AFP
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