Coco Gauff has got off to a dream start at the Australian Open after dropping just three games in her opening match.
The US Open champion eased her way to a 6-3, 6-0, win over world No.68 Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in just over an hour. It is the sixth match in a row that Gauff has won this season after claiming the title in Auckland last week. It is also her 45th win in the main draw of a Grand Slam event.
“I felt good. I was a little bit nervous coming in today,” said Gauff.
“You probably could tell. I was able to just calm down and then play my good, not my best, but good tennis from that point.”
One area where the 19-year-old had the upper hand compared to Schmiedlova concerned her serve which she has improved in recent weeks with the help of former world No.1 Andy Roddick. She won 71% of her first service points with her fastest serve being 198 kmh. Although there is still plenty of room for improvement with the American hitting 13 unforced errors compared to 15 winners.
“He’s a really chill guy,” she said in tribute to four-time Australian Open semi-finalist Roddick.
“I went to Charlotte for two days (to work with Roddick) and it was a really good two days. I think that my serve has improved. I just need to continue to trust it and trust all the work that I did in the offseason.’
“He’s probably one of the best servers in history, and especially on the American side. I don’t think I could have gotten anybody else better to kind of help me with that.”
Gauff will be hoping that her work with Roddick will help guide her to a second consecutive Grand Slam title. The last time a woman won back-to-back titles at the US Open and Australian Open was Naomi Osaka (2018-2019).
To achieve her goal of being the best, Gauff believes she needs to become an even more aggressive player on the Tour. She is currently being coached by Brad Gilbert who coincidentally is a former mentor of Roddick.
“In the past, I would just feel like I needed to get the serve in because I could rely on getting balls back and everything.” She explained.
“But I want to become a more aggressive server, and I feel like when my serve is on, I’m playing well. I think it was more of a mental switch.”
Gauff faces Caroline Dolehide in the second round at Melbourne Park.
