NEW YORK — It has largely been forgotten to history, but the last time Coco Gauff came in as the US Open favorite, her first-round match turned into an anxiety check. Down a set to Laura Siegemund, whose tricky strokes and gamesmanship got under Gauff's skin, it forced her to dig deep right away en route to her first major ***** le three years ago.
There was a moment in Gauff's 2026 debut Tuesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium when things could have taken a similar course. After cruising through the first set and quickly breaking to start the second against, Gauff's opponent Zeynep Sonmez started redlining.
In tennis parlance, redlining is essentially when an underdog decides they have nothing to lose, starts taking big risks and gets into a groove where every shot seems to go in. In a blink, Gauff went from cruising to a quick victory to down 2-3 and facing a break point. With Sonmez taking huge cuts at the ball and landing some heavy punches, it looked like things might get complicated.
But Gauff in 2026 is not as easily flustered under the weight of heavy expectations as she was at age 19. Instead, Gauff can now turn matches like this into just another day at the office, raising her game on cue to wrap up a 6-3, 6-4 win in 80 minutes.
Though Gauff's form was uneven in the first part of the tennis season, there's a reason why she looks like a good bet to win her second US Open this year. Since the start of Wimbledon, Gauff is 16-2 and won the Cincinnati ***** le in dominating fashion — similar to the run of form she found in 2023 when she rode the wave all the way to her first Slam.
#first #title #things
There was a moment in Gauff's 2026 debut Tuesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium when things could have taken a similar course. After cruising through the first set and quickly breaking to start the second against, Gauff's opponent Zeynep Sonmez started redlining.
In tennis parlance, redlining is essentially when an underdog decides they have nothing to lose, starts taking big risks and gets into a groove where every shot seems to go in. In a blink, Gauff went from cruising to a quick victory to down 2-3 and facing a break point. With Sonmez taking huge cuts at the ball and landing some heavy punches, it looked like things might get complicated.
But Gauff in 2026 is not as easily flustered under the weight of heavy expectations as she was at age 19. Instead, Gauff can now turn matches like this into just another day at the office, raising her game on cue to wrap up a 6-3, 6-4 win in 80 minutes.
Though Gauff's form was uneven in the first part of the tennis season, there's a reason why she looks like a good bet to win her second US Open this year. Since the start of Wimbledon, Gauff is 16-2 and won the Cincinnati ***** le in dominating fashion — similar to the run of form she found in 2023 when she rode the wave all the way to her first Slam.
#first #title #things
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