Coco Gauff begins US Open title defense with easy win after two straight losses

NEW YORK (AP) — The cry echoed through the cavernous Arthur Ashe Stadium on the U.S. Open on Monday before Coco Gauff’s first service game in her first match of her first Grand Slam tournament as defending champion: “Here we go, Coco! Here we go!”

Arriving at Flushing Meadows after a series of early exits in other events, Gauff was already down 1-0 to Varvara Gracheva, having lost the primary game of the match at zero, committing 4 errors on deep shots. What followed was a troublesome, close game, with 14 points in eight minutes and three break possibilities for Gracheva.

The most significant thing, after all, was that Gauff saved all of her break points, won the sport and suddenly had full control of the sport, allowing her to assert a 6-2, 6-0 victory. Not only did it secure the 20-year-old American’s place within the second round, it also showed her — and everybody else — that her game was in higher shape than had seemed recently.

“The last few weeks have been tough and I was like, ‘I have to do this and that, but I don’t have to prove anything to anyone but myself.’ So … (these) two weeks are just about proving all the expectations I have for myself,” said the No. 3 seed Gauff. “I have a lot of years to come back here and I’m not going to win every year. Just that perspective and just believing that I can — but not expecting that I should.”

The first day of the yr’s final Grand Slam went in addition to it could for Gauff and one other young American, Ashe, thirteenth seed Ben Shelton, a semifinalist last yr who beat 2020 champion Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. It was the last U.S. Open match for Thiem, who turns 31 next week and is retiring after this season.

“She obviously plays with a lot of passion,” Shelton, 21, said of Gauff. “You can tell she cares. She’s into it every time she’s on the court. I think that’s something people love.”

Gauff wasn’t the one former U.S. Open champion on Monday’s schedule. The night session at Ashe began with 2017 winner Sloane Stephens blowing an enormous lead against Clara Burel, losing 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 after winning the primary nine games. Then Novak Djokovic — whose collection of 24 Grand Slam titles includes last yr’s triumph in New York — beat Radu Albot 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

Among the seeded women, winners included: No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, a two-time Australian Open winner who finished second to Gauff in New York last yr; No. 7 Zheng Qinwen, an Olympic gold medalist in Paris earlier this month; No. 24 Donna Vekic, a silver medalist; No. 12 Daria Kasatkina; and No. 14 Madison Keys.

No. 9 Maria Sakkari retired after one set with a right shoulder injury. The highest seeded player within the bracket in the course of the day session was No. 15 Holger Rune, who was eliminated by Brandon Nakashima of the United States 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

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The men who advanced included: No. 4 Alexander Zverev, runner-up to Thiem 4 years ago; No. 6 Andrey Rublev; No. 8 Casper Ruud, runner-up at Flushing Meadows in 2022; No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov; and No. 12 Taylor Fritz.

Zheng is having fun with a breakthrough season that began with a run to the Australian Open final in January and peaked when she won China’s first singles gold on the Summer Olympics. Monday was a troublesome start against 2019 French Open semifinalist Amanda Anisimova, but Zheng eventually got here back to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

“Everything starts from scratch. You are no longer an Olympic champion,” Zheng said. “Just be humble and try to work, fight in every match, because if you don’t fight, you have a big chance of losing.”

The same may be said of Gauff’s approach as she returns to the location of her best triumph to this point.

If she was trying to begin over after early exits in three events on the Paris Games (not that she desired to forget concerning the trip to France; Gauff wore an Olympic rings necklace during Monday’s match) after which skidded twice on the hard courts of North America, then Gauff did the job well.

That wasn’t a surprise to Gauff. Not in any respect. She knew she hadn’t played great in Toronto or Cincinnati in recent weeks. But she could also tell she’d been hitting the ball well in practice.

“Usually that first round can sometimes set the tone for the tournament, whether you play well or not. … I had a good mentality. Does that mean I’m going to play great in the next few matches? Yes or no,” Gauff said. “But I think the mentality that I have this week will be there and hopefully the execution will stay there.”

She needed just 66 minutes to win on Monday, using a few of her 10 service aces to erase all eight break points Graczewa amassed and constructing a 16-5 advantage in winning plays.

“We all knew from the very beginning that Coco was going to be an incredible player, and she’s incredibly mature and carries herself in a way that I wish I had carried myself when I was her age,” said Keys, 29, who lost to Stephens within the U.S. Open final seven years ago. “It’s also very impressive that she was able to … despite all the pressure and expectations that were put on her, still do so well.”