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US tennis sensation Coco Gauff started off her US Open campaign with a win over Zeynep Sonmez in her campaign opener on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Gauff was in front of a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium, saving three break points in a six-deuce game spanning nine minutes, holding for 3-3. The world number four proceeded to finish the match with the authority and class associated with her game, with a 6-3, 6-4 win in 1 hour and 20 minutes. Last year, on the same exact date of September 1, her bid for a second triumph on home soil after 2023 ended in the round of 16 with a loss to Naomi Osaka. Speaking after the game, she said, as quoted by WTA's official website, "The game I got broken before, I maybe took a little bit off on the first serve. I was trying to go for a big kick, and it did not go my way. So knowing that it does take a lot to break me -- I was just focused on trying to get out of it, and I knew if I could hold that game, I felt confident breaking the next game. And I did." Later in the post-match presser, she said, "I do not know what put my mind at ease. I think maybe the confidence I had this week and knowing the opponent would have to play a really high level and me a really low level for it to not go my way. But Zeynep brought that high level today. I was just happy to get out of that second set." Since the start of 2020, Gauff has won 81 Grand Slam matches, with only Iga Swiatek (109) and Aryna Sabalenka (106) having more. She has won seven out of her eight first-round matches at the US Open. On the other hand, rising star Alexandra Eala from the Philippines advanced to the second round at the competition for the second successive year, with a dominant straight-sets win over American qualifier Mary Stoiana, closing out the match in one hour and 17 minutes with 6-1, 6-2. (ANI)
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