Tennis: USA's Coco Gauff in fighting form as she reaches second round of Olympic women's singles tournament
World No. 2 Coco Gauff showed no sign of nerves as she got her singles campaign off to a flying start with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović on the second day of the tennis tournament at Paris 2024 on 28 July.
The US phenom walked out onto the clay court at Stade Roland Garros like she owned the place. The 20-year-old does own a piece of history at the famous arena where she reached her first Grand Slam final at the 2022 French Open and won a maiden doubles crown last month.
Gauff inflicted pain on an Australian opponent for the second day in a row, adding to her doubles victory from the day before with partner Jessica Pegula.
The 2023 US Open champion was in dominant form in her opening singles contest at Paris 2024 as she broke Tomljanović on her first serve of the contest.
Gauff won three games on the trot before Tomljanović finally got the rub of the green on her own serve and recovered the break to get the match back on even terms.
The status quo was short-lived as Gauff reclaimed the advantage to ultimately secure the first set.
Gauff went into overdrive in the second set as she whitewashed her opponent to claim a dominant victory in USA colours at the Games.
Gauff will have a busy maiden appearance in Paris as she will play in all three tennis disciplines — singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles — optimising her chances of walking away with some Olympic silverware.