What does it take to win a match when your serve is still a work in progress and the crowd expects perfection? For Coco Gauff on Tuesday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, it took grit, patience, and a refusal to give in.
The 21-year-old American survived a bruising first-round encounter with Ajla Tomljanovic, edging the Aussie 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5 in a three-hour scrap that tested her resolve. Tomljanovic, who stunned Serena Williams here three years ago en route to the quarterfinals, looked poised to spoil another story under the Ashe lights. She broke Gauff six times, forced a deciding set, and nearly silenced the crowd when the third seed faltered while serving for the match at 5-4.
But Gauff regrouped. She steadied herself, leaned on the Ashe faithful, and closed the door at the second time of asking. Four aces, ten double faults, and one hard-earned victory — not a masterpiece, but a survival story.
“The match was—it is what it was. I’m so used to these long battles,” Gauff said afterward, acknowledging that her serve remains very much a work in progress. “The practice week was tough because I was spending a lot of time on court literally serving until, like, my shoulder was hurting. Yeah, it’s just tough.”
The numbers back that up, but the American insists she’s moving in the right direction with new coach Gavin MacMillan, the biomechanics specialist who helped Aryna Sabalenka successfully rework her serve. “For me it’s trying not to go back to old habits in those tighter moments, and I think I did that today, especially in the third set,” she said. “Hopefully this time next year I’ll be serving much better.”
For now, there’s little time to dwell. The next test looms large: Croatia’s Donna Vekic in round two.
