Current:Home > NewsCoco Gauff’s record at the Paris Olympics is perfect even if her play hasn’t always been-InfoLens
Coco Gauff’s record at the Paris Olympics is perfect even if her play hasn’t always been
View Date:2024-12-23 16:13:31
PARIS (AP) — Coco Gauff is making it look easy at the Paris Olympics so far, adding a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina in the second round of singles Monday to her growing collection of lopsided results.
So what if Gauff had more than twice as many unforced errors, 26, as winners, 11? So what if she only put 55% of her first serves in play? So what if she wound up with six double-faults and zero aces?
So what if it took nearly 1 1/2 hours for the reigning U.S. Open champion and No. 2-ranked Gauff to finish off an opponent who is ranked 85th, has never won a tour-level singles title and owns an 0-2 career record at Grand Slam tournaments?
“You can’t argue with the scoreline, to be honest,” the 20-year-old American said.
Sure can’t.
Look at what she’s managed to do so far at her first Olympics: Not only is Gauff 3-0 across singles and women’s doubles, where her partner is Jessica Pegula, but she has dropped a combined total of only nine games across six sets in those three matches.
“I knew that she was just going to probably try to out-rally me, which I feel like is one of my strengths. But also I had the ability to be aggressive,” Gauff said about the matchup with Carle, someone she was familiar with from their days as junior players. “So I think I was just trying to balance the mistakes and not let her win a lot of points off my racket.”
Her match was played at Court Suzanne Lenglen at the same time that, across the way at Court Philippe Chatrier, Novak Djokovic was beating Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-4 in the 60th head-to-head matchup between two rivals with 46 Grand Slam titles between them.
Gauff said she was “kind of sad” that she missed the chance to watch a contest between two players who “mean a lot” to their sport.
Men moving into the third round included Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 6-1, 7-6 (3) on Monday night. Alcaraz needed a medical timeout for treatment from a trainer for a groin muscle issue in the second set, then was a point from getting pushed to a third, but finished the job.
Paris Olympics
- Simone Biles is competing with an injury. Here’s what to know.
- Take a look at everything else to watch on Day 3.
- See AP’s top photos from the 2024 Paris Olympics here.
- See the Olympic schedule of events and follow all of AP’s coverage of the Summer Games.
- Here is a link to the Olympic medal tracker.
- Want more? Sign up for our daily Postcards from Paris newsletter.
“It’s a pain that I’ve been dealing with,” Alcaraz said, mentioning that it bothered him during his run to the Wimbledon championship this month. “I know what I have to do ... to deal with this pain.”
Alcaraz, a 21-year-old who also won the French Open in June for one of his four Grand Slam titles, is scheduled to team with Nadal in doubles for Spain on Tuesday against Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof.
“I will try to recover as soon and as (best) as I can tonight,” Alcaraz said, “to be ... 100% tomorrow in my doubles.”
Other winners were Casper Ruud of Norway and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who both have reached French Open finals.
In other action around the same facility used for the French Open, where Nadal won 14 of his 22 major championships, three-time major champion Angelique Kerber was a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 winner against Jaqueline Adina Cristian of Romania, and Wimbledon champ Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini of Italy advanced in straight sets.
Gauff’s American teammates Danielle Collins and Emma Navarro both won. Collins eliminated 2018 Australian Open title winner Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
The next opponent for Gauff will be Donna Vekic, a Croatian who was a semifinalist at Wimbledon a little more than two weeks ago and got past 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada 6-3, 6-4 on Monday.
Gauff vs. Vekic was scheduled for Tuesday, as was the first-round match for Gauff and Taylor Fritz in mixed doubles.
Gauff is hoping to win three medals at these Games — in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988, no player has ever left a single Games with medals from three events.
On Monday, Gauff was not at all concerned by the heat, which rose into the 80s Fahrenheit for the first time during the Paris Olympics.
Being from Florida means that sort of thing is not a big deal to Gauff, although she made some concessions, wearing ice-filled towels to cool off during changeovers and taking an ice bath after the match.
“I’m just trying my best to be preventative before maybe I feel fatigue and everything,” Gauff said. “Obviously, my last two matches, I went quick. So I’m just trying to think for the future, towards the end of the tournament.”
___
AP National Writer Jenna Fryer contributed.
___
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
veryGood! (2494)
Related
- Jana Duggar Reveals She's Adjusting to City Life Amid Move Away From Farm
- Feds arrest ex-US Green Beret in connection to failed 2020 raid of Venezuela to remove Maduro
- Jax Taylor Shares Reason He Chose to Enter Treatment for Mental Health Struggles
- Guantanamo inmate accused of being main plotter of 9/11 attacks to plead guilty
- New Orleans marks with parade the 64th anniversary of 4 little girls integrating city schools
- Kamala Harris, Megyn Kelly and why the sexist attacks are so dangerous
- Kathie Lee Gifford hospitalized with fractured pelvis after fall: 'Unbelievably painful'
- GOP primary voters in Arizona’s largest county oust election official who endured years of attacks
- Beyoncé course coming to Yale University to examine her legacy
- When does 'Emily in Paris' Season 4 come out? Premiere date, cast, trailer
Ranking
- Kim Kardashian Says She's Raising Her and Kanye West's 4 Kids By Herself
- Rudy Giuliani agrees to deal to end his bankruptcy case, pay creditors’ financial adviser $400k
- North Carolina Environmental Regulators at War Over Water Rules for “Forever Chemicals”
- Massachusetts lawmakers push for drug injection sites as session wraps up
- Klay Thompson returns to Golden State in NBA Cup game. How to watch
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword, I Will Turn This Car Around!
- Keep an eye on your inbox: 25 million student loan borrowers to get email on forgiveness
- How Nebraska’s special legislative session on taxes came about and what to expect
Recommendation
-
Why Kathy Bates Decided Against Reconstruction Surgery After Double Mastectomy for Breast Cancer
-
Watch: Orioles' Jackson Holliday crushes grand slam for first MLB home run
-
How two strikes on militant leaders in the Middle East could escalate into a regional war
-
The Daily Money: Deal time at McDonald's
-
Summer I Turned Pretty's Gavin Casalegno Marries Girlfriend Cheyanne Casalegno
-
Community urges 'genuine police reform' after Sonya Massey shooting
-
Deion Sanders' son Shilo accused of trying to 'avoid responsibility' in bankruptcy case
-
2024 Olympics: Simone Biles Has the Perfect Response to Criticism Over Her Hair