PARIS: American world number three Coco Gauff was far too strong for Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto at the French Open on Sunday, sealing a 6-1 6-2 win to reach the quarter-finals.
The match began at a frenetic pace, with the 45th-ranked Cocciaretto winning only two points in the first four games on unforced errors by Gauff, who won the U.S. Open last year after losing the 2022 final in Paris.
Cocciaretto regained some confidence at the end of the first set with longer rallies and a few winning shots but Gauff kept the upper hand, losing only one game to her 23-year-old opponent.
Gauff, who landed only 56% of her first serves, suffered a small slump early in the second set, losing her first service game and allowing the Italian to respond.
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Cocciaretto managed to win one of her service games but that was not enough to beat Gauff who finished the match in exactly one hour.
“I’m really happy with how I played today. I played her in Dubai, and it was a little bit tougher. So happy that I took what I learned from that match into today,” Gauff told reporters.
Gauff, who made it to the semi-finals in Rome and has lost only 18 games so far, said she was happy to make a strong start at Roland Garros.
“Sometimes how you start is not necessarily how you finish a tournament. For me last week Rome was one of those where I went in not feeling great at all, and then I left feeling good about my game,” she said.
“This week I feel like I’ve been managing and playing well,” she added, noting, however, that the wet and humid weather in Paris this week had been tough conditions to play in.
“It’s just really slow and muggy. The weather makes you maybe not as hyped up for your match just naturally,” she said.
In the quarter-final, Gauff, who is bidding to become the first American to win Roland Garros since Serena Williams in 2015, will face the winner of the match between Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur and Dane Clara Tauson.
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