Gauff cruises to Round 2 despite serve struggles
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Third-seeded Coco Gauff had some familiar struggles on serve but still had enough class and power to defeat Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 6-3 on Monday in a first-round match at the Australian Open.
Gauff has won two Grand Slam titles but has never gone past the semifinals at Melbourne Park. She was knocked out in the quarterfinals last year.
The American has struggled with double faults, posting 431 in 2025 on the WTA Tour, by far the most of any player. No one else had more than 300. Gauff had six in the first set against Rakhimova and only one in the second set.
"I mean, it was just the first set," Gauff said. "Only had one double in the second. I think both of us were struggling on the far side. The sun is right there, which I know for every time I play first on day here, that's just how it is.
"But once I got through kind of the first game, I had like three doubles in the first game, and once I got through that game, I mean, it was pretty much smooth sailing from there. Maybe I would have liked to put more first serves in the court, for sure."
The 21-year-old Gauff has been reworking her serve for the past several months, and she practiced some more during a comfort break in the match at Rod Laver Arena with Rakhimova, 24.
Gauff will face left-handed Olga Danilovic in the second round. Danilovic, also 24, defeated 45-year-old Venus Williams on Sunday in a first-round match, which erased the possibility of the two Americans facing off.
"There's not many [left-handed players] on Tour, but Olga's a great player. She's beat some top players, so it's going to be a tough match," Gauff said.
Iga Swiatek knows she has plenty to work on in her bid for a first Australian Open title and a career Grand Slam.
The No. 2-ranked Świątek never got comfortable in a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over No. 130-ranked Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue in the first-round on Monday night.
After winning Wimbledon last year to go with her four French Open titles and her victory at the 2022 US Open, the Australian Open is the only major missing from her collection. She has twice reached the semifinals.
Yuan was swinging freely and rifling winners as she took a 5-3 lead, and Świątek had to switch things up.
"I was a bit rusty at the beginning," she said. "Many ups and downs, but overall I have some stuff to work on. I'll just focus on that."
From 5-3 down in the first, she held a service game at love to force Yuan to serve for the set. Świątek broke back to level and then, in the tiebreaker, she remained composed and converted on her second set point.
"I started a bit tight. I needed to get my legs moving. Go after my shots. Be brave with the decisions," she said of the change up.
"It wasn't perfect, but that's why I'm happy," added Świątek, who has only ever lost once in the first round at a major. "It's not hard to win matches when everything is going well. Today it wasn't, but I was able to win."
In other matches, No. 4 Amanda Anisimova, runner-up at the last two majors, advanced 6-3, 6-2 over Simona Waltert, No. 6 Jessica Pegula beat Anastasia Zakharova 6-2, 6-1 and No. 14 Clara Tauson had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Dalma Galfi.
Sofia Kenin's poor recent run at the Australian Open continued as she lost 6-3, 6-2 to fellow-American Peyton Stearns.
Kenin, the No. 27 seed, was a shock winner here in 2020. But she has since struggled at Melbourne Park, losing in the first round for the fifth consecutive time.
Stearns fired 15 aces and had just one double fault as she cruised through to the second round in 1 hour, 14 minutes. She will play Petra Marcinko of Croatia next.
Also, Priscilla Hon secured her first trip to the second round of her home major in six years and also helped her opponent Marina Stakusic leave the court in a wheelchair after the Canadian qualifier collapsed late in the deciding set with severe leg cramps.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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