Coco Gauff has said that night matches at Arthur Ashe are ‘a little bit more nerve-racking,’ and the defending US Open women’s champion had to shake some early jitters on Wednesday night as she eventually eased past German Tatjana Maria into the third round.
The 20-year-old Gauff – after claiming her first Slam last year – is appointment viewing now in New York, and the weight of that attention reared its head at times under these Arthur Ashe lights.
The top-ranked American woman was broken during her first service, struggled to get her first serve in throughout the opening set and needed to survive three deuces not to get broken for a second straight time.
But it didn’t take much too longer for Gauff to find her footing in this match as she won 6-4, 6-0 to keep her US Open title defense alive in emphatic fashion.
With the first set tied at 3-3, Gauff earned a second vital break against the slice-happy Maria to take the lead and mostly didn’t look back from there.
Coco Gauff is into the third round of the US Open after beating German Tatjana Maria
Maria tried to slow down points with constant slices by Gauff ultimately proved too much
The German tried to slow points down and harness Gauff’s power as much as possible, but that ultimately proved fruitless when Gauff got out of her own way (she had seven double faults and 20 unforced errors in first set.)
It wasn’t a perfect night, but the crowd got a glimpse of her at her brilliant best when she hit a sublime drop shot to set up a wide-open winner that gave her a 5-3 first et lead.
The shot itself is not one she’s likely to replicate that often going forward, but she’ll certainly want to carry the bravado of that moment into her next match as she tries to become the first woman to repeat in New York since Serena Williams from 2012-14.
Gauff isn’t yet old enough to purchase a drink in the US but this – packed night-session houses, thousands of fans flocking to see her with honeydeuces in hand – is now her reality for years to come.
She didn’t always deal with that pressure seamlessly on Tuesday but she ultimately did more than enough.
Even in closing out the first set, it was hard work for Gauff as she missed an easy slam at 15-30 before eventually laboring to a set lead after another two deuces.
That ultimately proved to be a breakthrough though as Gauff started off the second set by breaking Maria at the first two opportunities, and it was much easier sailing from there as she put together a dominant second set.
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