The main draw of the 2023 U.S. Open got underway on Monday, and for sixth-seeded American Coco Gauff, she was presented with a challenge from the start.
Playing in the opening match of the first day’s Night Session inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, Gauff took on German veteran Laura Siegemund in her first round matchup. Siegemund frequently came to net and used her excellent volleying to give Gauff fits throughout the first set.
But Gauff continued to fight and work through those challenges, and as she broke to open the second set in a game that lasted nearly 30 minutes, en route to advancing with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win.
“I mean, first rounds are always tricky, especially since she played through qualifying. She’s a tricky opponent in general. She does a lot of quirky stuff with the slices and coming to the net, all of that,” said Gauff in her post-match press conference. “I played her before in the past, obviously a long time ago. I think I lost. I’m just happy that I was able to overcome all that. [I] wasn’t playing my best tennis. I think most of the time, every Grand Slam you have one bad match. I’m glad I was able to get that out of the way in the first round.”
Gauff needed two hours and 51 minutes to move past Siegemund in three-hard fought sets. She finished with an even-handed 34 winners and 34 unforced errors. It wasn’t her most clean match, but she found a way.
“I definitely won ugly tonight,” she said. “It was a lot of weird points, with the slicing. Usually something that I usually do well against, opponents who slice. We were prepared for it. I think today was just execution. So yeah, today was truly winning ugly.”
Up next for the 19-year-old is 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who also came back from a set down in her first-round match to beat Olivia Gadecki 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The biggest upset on the women’s side came early in the day as Spain’s Rebeka Masarova knocked out eighth-seed Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-4. She will take on Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the second round.
Top-seed Iga Swiatek rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Sweden’s Rebecca Peterson to kick off play on Arthur Ashe. The defending champion will meet Australia’s Daria Saville next.
Fourth-seed Elena Rybakina cruised past Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-1 to secure her spot in the next round where will face off against Ajla Tomljanovic.
Americans Bernarda Pera, Jennifer Brady, Taylor Townsend and Danielle Collins were also winners on Monday.
Taylor Townsend won in straight sets to advance to the second round on Monday (Photo Credit: Darren Carroll/USTA)
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