Coco Gauff started slowly but quickly found her footing against Varvara Gracheva to outplay her in just an hour of play at the 2024 US Open.
The 20-year-old entered this match after a disappointing post-Wimbledon run, during which she only won two matches. That's a part of the season during which Gauff won two trophies last year, winning one match after another.
She wasn't playing as well this year, but the draw at Flushing Meadows was kind to her. It gave her a player who plays her best tennis on clay, but the opening match is never easy. Gracheva isn't a player who is afraid to play aggressive tennis, and she did so early on in this meeting.
She attacked the second serve of her opponent and really tested Gauff's forehand. The American's early shakiness was evident as she faced break points in her first service game.
The defending champion made far too many errors, but funnily enough, her serve kept her in it. She would then break to take a 2-1 lead and hold for 3-1. Getting over that shaky start was important for Gauff because she needed this match to be relatively painless.
She hasn't played well lately, and winning big and quickly was important to her to start her title defense campaign. In the first three of Gauff's service games, her opponent had break points.
While the last year's winner was able to hold serve, that wasn't particularly impressive. She did impress a bit later after breaking her opponent's serve once more and winning the first set 6-2.
It wasn't Gauff's perfect set, but she did enough to win. Gracheva's aggressive approach didn't yield much outside the first few games. She ended the opening set with 11 unforced errors and only two winners, which was not good enough.
Gauff had 11 winners and 16 unforced errors, which wasn't great, but that was still nine winners more than Gracheva had and plenty enough. By the time the second set rolled around, Gauff was in a good rhythm.
She broke her opponent's serve immediately. She then added another break to make it 3-0 as her opponent struggled to find the court. Gracheva totaled nine unforced errors in only three games of play in the second set.
She was under a lot t of pressure from Gauff, but the Frenchman was also not playing well at all. It was precisely the type of match the home crowd hero needed. She had a slow start, and she had to battle a little bit.
That was good to overcome, and once she did that, she cruised past her opponent. She didn't have to do too much, even though she tried to be aggressive. Gracheva attacked her opponent's forehand and generally tried to take it to Gauff, but it didn't work out that well.
The American won the match with a bagel, because her opponent simply wasn't playing well at all. As a result, Gauff was able to win the match 6-2, 6-0, and easily reach the second round of the 2024 US Open.
Coco Gauff vs Varvara Gracheva Match Stats:
| Coco Gauff | Varvara Gracheva | |
| 10 | Aces | 0 |
| 6 | Double Faults | 4 |
| 64% | First Serve % | 55% |
| 72% (28/39) | Points Won After First Serve % | 50% (13/26) |
| 45% (10/22) | Points Won After Second Serve % | 29% (6/21) |
| 50% (5/10) | Break Point Conversion | 0% (0/9) |
| 16 | Winners | 5 |
| 21 | Unforced Errors | 24 |
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