Defending champion Coco Gauff shook off her struggles on serve to reach the third round of the US Open on Wednesday with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over 99th-ranked Tatjana Maria of Germany.
The 20-year-old American, who has had an erratic season since capturing her maiden major on the hard courts of New York, had nine double faults and put just 44 percent of her first serves in play.
Maria, a 37-year-old veteran, just didn’t have the weapons to take advantage, converting just one of her five break chances.
With a set in hand Gauff began to hit with more authority. She finished with 25 winners and 25 unforced errors and won the last seven games.
“I think I played well overall,” Gauff said. “I think if I could have served better that first set would have been a lot easier.”
Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, runner-up to Gauff last year, didn’t have to take advantage, polishing off Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-3, 6-1 in an hour.
The world number two from Belarus, aiming to become the first woman since Angelique Kerber in 2016 to win both hard court Grand Slam titles in the same year, said she was determined to make it a quick.
“I told myself you have to stay focused from the first point to the last point and make sure you’re not going to stay here a crazy number of hours,” Sabalenka said.
Sabalenka, who reached the final of the tournament last year, rolled to the Cincinnati Open title earlier this month without losing a set and has yet to drop one in her two matches at Flushing Meadows so far this year.
While she looks unstoppable now, Sabalenka’s season has not been without its challenges, including a shoulder injury that forced her to miss Wimbledon and the Olympic Games.
Next up for Sabalenka is a third-round meeting with either 16-year-old American Iva Jovic or Russian 29th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Seventh-seeded Paris Olympics gold medallist Zheng Qinwen had to go the distance, rallying from a set down for the second straight match to reach the third round with a 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-2 victory over Russian Erika Andreeva.
Eighth-seeded Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova became the biggest upset victim of the tournament so far, bounced 6-4, 7-5 by Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
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