Reigning French Open champion Coco \u200cGauff recovered from a slow start to power \u200cpast fellow American Taylor Townsend 6-4 \u200b6-0 as her title defence began in style.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the women’s draw, top-seed Aryna Sabalenka and 16th-seed Naomi Osaka also progressed.<\/p>\n
On \u200ba baking Court \u200cPhilippe-Chatrier, Gauff struggled to find her range early \u200bon and was a point away from slipping two breaks of serve \u200bbehind.<\/p>\n
But \u2060the fourth seed \u2060quickly recovered her poise to take control and \u200cmove safely through to the second round.<\/p>\n
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This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> Gauff double-faulted on set point at \u200c5-3 in the opener but broke the Townsend serve in the next game to move ahead.<\/p>\n After that \u2060it was one-way traffic as \u200bshe raced to victory.<\/p>\n “I \u200bhave so many great memories \u200bon this court,” said Gauff, who beat \u2060Sabalenka in the final last year.<\/p>\n “I was a \u2060little nervous going out, that showed a bit, but \u200bI was able to find my calm.”<\/p>\n Sabalenka: Heatwave suits my game<\/p>\n Top-ranked Sabalenka took advantage of the heatwave at the French Open to impose her attacking game in the first round.<\/p>\n Sabalenka beat 50th-ranked Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 6-4 6-2 on Philippe-Chatrier with an array of approaches to the net and volley put-aways.<\/p>\n Twitter<\/p>\n This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> “That’s the most enjoyable part of the game right now – that I’m able to come to the net to play points there,” Sabalenka said. “I’m super-proud that I was able to improve that part of the game.”<\/p>\n The unusually hot conditions at Roland-Garros make net-rushing – usually better reserved for hard and grass-courts – a viable option because the court is drying out quicker and playing faster.<\/p>\n For a third consecutive day, the temperature in Paris was forecast to rise to at least 32 degrees.<\/p>\n “Let’s hope that this is the perfect condition for me,” Sabalenka added. “It suits my game really well.”<\/p>\n Sabalenka has won the Australian Open and the US Open on hard courts.<\/p>\n Osaka sparkles in win over Siegemund<\/p>\n Osaka turned \u200cheads with another sparkling Grand Slam fashion statement and the former world No 1 matched it with striking tennis to dismantle unseeded German \u200bLaura Siegemund 6-3 7-6 (7-3) \u200cin the first round.<\/p>\n Twitter<\/p>\n This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> Months after dazzling \u200bwith a jellyfish-inspired outfit at the Australian Open, Osaka walked on to Court \u200bSuzanne Lenglen in a \u2060sequined waistcoat blouse and \u2060a black mesh floor-length train before unveiling a \u200clayered yellow-brown and gold match dress.<\/p>\n Siegemund, far more understated in attire, held \u200cher own once the contest began but four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka quickly took control of the opening set \u2060and closed it out with \u200bminimum fuss.<\/p>\n As the blazing \u200bafternoon sun made conditions more \u200bdifficult for players, Osaka allowed the \u2060momentum to shift in the next set but the 16th seed \u2060saved a set point \u200band powered back from 5-3 down \u200bto force a tie-break and prevail.<\/p>\n Watch the ATP and WTA Tours, live on Sky Sports or stream with NOW<\/a> and the Sky Sports app<\/a>, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reigning French Open champion Coco \u200cGauff recovered from a slow start to power \u200cpast fellow American Taylor Townsend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-605178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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