Coco Gauff\u2019s first match since enlisting someone to help with her shaky serving got off to a rocky start at the U.S. Open on Tuesday night. She double-faulted in the very first game \u2014 and a total of 10 times. She got broken in that game, too \u2014 and a total of six times.<\/p>\n
The only numbers that truly counted in the end, of course, were the ones on the Arthur Ashe Stadium scoreboard, and those showed that the No. 3-seeded Gauff held on for a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5 victory over Ajla Tomljanovic to reach the second round at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n
Coco Gauff (USA) reacts against Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) at the 2025 US Open played at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center on August 26, 2025. Annie Wermiel\/NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t the best,\u201d Gauff said, \u201cbut I\u2019m happy to get through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nothing came easily. Gauff twice led by a break in the second set but couldn\u2019t end things. She went up 5-3 in the third and served for the victory at 5-4, but double-faulted twice in a row and missed a pair of forehands to make it 5-all.<\/p>\n
That could have been too much to take. Instead, Gauff steadied herself, broke right back, then was able to serve it out on her second chance to do so, nearly three full hours after the contest began.<\/p>\n
Coco Gauff (USA) returns a volley against Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) at the 2025 US Open played at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center on August 26, 2025. Annie Wermiel\/NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI had so many chances. \u2026 I was just like, \u2018Eventually, one of these is going to go my way,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Gauff, who won the first of her two Grand Slam titles at the 2023 U.S. Open as a teenager, added Gavin MacMillan to her coaching team shortly before the start of this tournament. MacMillan is a biomechanics expert who helped current No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka retool her serve a few years ago, and he was in the first row of Gauff\u2019s guest box, seated right in front of her mother.<\/p>\n
After beating Tomljanovic, Gauff called her practices with MacMillan \u201creally tough\u201d and \u201cmentally exhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to improve with each match,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The problem for Gauff, in a nutshell, has been a propensity to accumulate double-faults. Her 320 entering the U.S. Open were the most on the women\u2019s tour this season \u2014 and more than 100 more than anyone else. That included 23 in one match earlier this month, then 14 the next time out.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, as she dealt with the work-in-progress of a tweaked service motion, Gauff began with much slower offerings than she\u2019s capable of striking. As the match progressed, and the tension rose, the 21-year-old from Florida reverted to her customary pace, going from averaging just 88 mph on first serves in the first set, to 97 mph in the second and 101 in the third, when Ashe\u2019s retractable roof was closed. She cranked one in at 117 mph and even produced one second-serve ace.<\/p>\n
Coco Gauff (USA) reacts after she wins her match against Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) at the 2025 US Open played at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center on August 26, 2025. Annie Wermiel\/NY Post<\/p>\n
What won this one against the 79th-ranked Tomljanovic, an Australian best known for defeating Serena Williams at the 2022 U.S. Open in the 23-time major champion\u2019s final match of her career, was Gauff\u2019s exemplary court coverage and terrific backhand. Appropriately, a down-the-line backhand converted match point, and Gauff waved her arms overhead to rile up the crowd.<\/p>\n
Even as Tomljanovic swung away on her big forehand, it was Gauff who got the best of their lengthy exchanges from the baseline.<\/p>\n
John Mulaney and Olivia Munn watches as Coco Gauff (USA) plays against Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) at the 2025 US Open played at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center on August 26, 2025. Annie Wermiel\/NY Post<\/p>\n
She also fared well when she pressed forward, winning 12 of the 15 points she ended at the net, including one with a leaping, over-the-shoulder, back-to-the-net volley winner in the third set<\/p>\n
This was Gauff\u2019s first match at a Slam since stumbling to a first-round exit at Wimbledon in July, a setback that followed her championship at the French Open in June.<\/p>\n
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) returns a volley against Coco Gauff (USA) at the 2025 US Open played at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center on August 26, 2025 Annie Wermiel\/NY Post<\/p>\n
As Gauff moves forward at Flushing Meadows, there is a chance she can overtake Sabalenka and No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the rankings and rise to No. 1 for the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coco Gauff\u2019s first match since enlisting someone to help with her shaky serving got off to a rocky…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[5113,99,428,14687],"class_list":{"0":"post-112837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-coco-gauff","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis","11":"tag-us-open-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}