Coco Gauff is through to the second round of the French Open after a convincing win against Olivia Gadecki.
The American spent just one hour and 11 minutes on court as she secured a 6-2, 6-2 win against her Australian opponent.
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Gauff, ranked second in the world, admitted after her opening match that conditions on the court were far from ideal.
“I played as good as I could with the conditions, it was really windy,”. she explained.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be a clean match… it was tough on returning the serve, timing the ball.”
Gauff then went on to break down how she dealt with playing in the wind, admitting it felt like competing in two different matches at one time.
“For sure, mindset first, then the footwork is the most important,” she continued.
“It’s two different matches depending on what side of the court you’re on.
“I felt on one side I had to really hit the ball to get it past the service box, and on (the other side) I felt that if I barely touched the ball it would be a deep shot.
“Honestly, it felt like two different matches on each side of the court.”
Despite far from ideal conditions, Gauff put the wind — and also a pre-match blunder — behind her to win.
When she came onto the court, the American appeared confused as she was unable to find her rackets in her bag.
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She made light of the situation afterwards, and light-heartedly blamed her coaches.
“The culprit is not in the box, because he knows my rackets are supposed to be in the bag,” Gauff joked.
“As long as I’ve been on tour, my coach always put the rackets in the bag because he’s very superstitious.
“So I came on the court and I realised I had no rackets… I’m blaming it on my coach.”
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In her win against Gadecki, Gauff also made US history at the French Open.
She is the youngest American player to claim more than 20 Women’s Singles wins at Roland Garros in the Open Era, with 21 to her name.
At 21, Gauff is also the youngest player to win the opening match at all their first six appearances at Roland Garros in Women’s Singles since Martina Hingis between 1999-2005.
More to follow.
