Coco Gauff serves up shocking first set statistics before bouncing back for unconvincing win
04/24/2025 05:48 PM
Coco Gauff always relishes the chance to play on clay courts, but she was in turmoil in her opening match at the Madrid Open after dropping the first set against Dayana Yastremska in alarming fashion.
It wasn’t just the 6-0 scoreline that rocked Gauff onto the ropes as she landed just 29 per-cent of her first serves in the set and win just 25 per-cent of her second serve points.
Gauff’s serve has been a constant concern for the former US Open champion over the last year or so and while she only threw in two double faults in that opening set, she struggled to find any consistency on her delivery.
In total, Gauff won just five points in her service games and lost 17 in a set when she only won 13 points in total.
Gauff was constantly looking forward to her box for inspiration, but she was not getting any answers to her questions in what was a worrying first set display.
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Remarkably, she found a way to bounce back from what appeared to be a desperate situation to win the second set against Yastremska and in a topsy-turvy final set, both players exchanged breaks before Gauff sealed a less than convincing 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 win.
Gauff was constantly berating her player box in the third set and asking them why they were not giving her encouragement, with the commentators working on the match suggesting they may have felt the most effective route they could take would be to say nothing amid a wildly erratic display.
“I had to fight hard,” said Gauff in her on-court interview. “Dayana was playing some great tennis in the first set, so I did well to hang in there and get the win.”
In her pre-tournament press conference, Gauff admitted she needed to find a balance between trying to play perfect tennis and dealing with the frustration of coming up short in that ambition.
"I'm definitely someone who strives for perfection and it's something that I've been working on," said Gauff.
"And I think perfectionism is something that makes me good, but can also be a bit of a bad thing, too.
"So I think it's just finding the balance and knowing that this is a long season, a long sport. And you're not going to win every tournament. And I am someone that goes in believing that I can. So it is sometimes a letdown when I don't. So I just try to take the positives from the losses, which is something I've been working on lately.
"I always thought I was the type of person who needed matches to bring confidence. And then a lot of my results just came out of nowhere with maybe not as many matches doing well.
"So, I started to believe that you can just turn it around any week. And just as quickly as you can go on a tear, you can also lose.
"I think it's just one of those things that is just treating each tournament with a new perspective and a new mindset."
The win for Gauff set up match against American Ann Li, who beat No 25 seed Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
There was a shock in the WTA event in Madrid as Jelena Ostapenko failed to back up her win in the Stuttgart Open final on Monday with more success in Madrid.
Ostapenko fell at the first hurdle in the Spanish capital to fellow Latvian Anastasija Sevastova, who is making her second comeback in three years following maternity leave and a serious knee injury.
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