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Sixth seed Coco Gauff needed to channelise all her inner game as she came from a set down to move into the second round of the 2023 US Open. Playing in the evening session, the American completed a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Laura Siegemund.
The match drew to a close nine minutes before three hours. Gauff looked to be a little sluggish to start the match and the German made full use of this to her advantage. She built an easy momentum and was able to close out the opening set.
In the second and third sets, Gauff found her range and was able to keep Siegemund at bay with her powerful shot-making. To make a comparison, in the first set, Gauff had just seven winners to her opponent’s 11 and two more unforced errors than her rival’s 13.
In the second set, Gauff had one more winner than Siegemund’s 15. She finished that set with 11 unforced errors to Siegemund’s 16. In the deciding set, Gauff once again had the upper hand when it came to winners – 11 to the latter’s nine, and just the one more unforced error than the latter’s 12.
US Open: Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva to renew their acquaintance
In the second round, Gauff’s set up an intriguing second round against another teenager, Mirra Andreeva. Andreeva defeated Australian qualifier Olivia Gadecki in a similar match-up to Gauff’s.
The 16-year-old lost the first set but recovered lost ground by clinching a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. This will be the second time – in their career and in 2023 – Gauff and Andreeva will be playing against each other.
The only time they’d met before, was at the French Open. Gauff won that match in three sets. Former Flushing Meadows titlist, Sloane Stephens crashed out in the first round of this year’s edition. Beatriz Haddad Maia, seeded 19th, came up with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 win over the American in a match that stopped short of three hours by merely three minutes.
The Brazilian will play Sara Sorribes Tormo for a place in the third round. Lastly, fourth seed Elena Rybakina also took her place in the round-of-64 at the US Open. The Kazakh was too good for Marta Kostyuk and went to clinch a 6-2, 6-1 win after an hour and 27 minutes of play.
