Coco Gauff is back on the courts as the American won her first match after becoming a Grand Slam champion at the US Open recently.
Gauff finally became a Grand Slam champion at the US Open a few weeks ago, and after taking some time off, the American is back on the tennis courts at the 2023 China Open. She arrived early in Beijing to prepare as she looked ahead to more success.
She faced Ekaterina Alexandrova in her first match in Beijing and won after some decent battling. Alexandrova is not a player who gives away wins easily, especially in conditions that allow her to unleash her power, and that proved correct once more.
Gauff didn't play her best tennis, which is why this match was fairly close from start to finish. The teenager took an early break and added another to give herself a 4-0 lead, but Alexandrova battled back.
When the Russian finally found her rhythm, she won four games in a row to make it 4-4. We had a tie score until 5-5 when Gauff finally pulled away with some solid baseline play.
The speed and defensive skills put a lot of pressure on Alexandrova, who didn't have the best day serving, but neither did Gauff. They both did better in the second set, especially Gauff, who held her serve this time around.
Alexandrova was also solid but eventually found herself staring at breakpoints that she couldn't overcome. Gauff broke and took the 4-2 lead, which became a 5-2 lead, and then finished things off. The final score was 7-5 6-3 for the American, who looks really dangerous in Beijing.
She's now up to 13 wins in a row. Next up is Petra Martic, who is an experienced player and good enough to give her some trouble but unlikely actually to be able to win the match.
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