French Open 2025: Coco Gauff emerges from a tough second set to return to Week 2 in Paris
Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic returns the ball to Coco Gauff of the U.S. during their third round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic returns the ball to Coco Gauff of the U.S. during their third round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Coco Gauff of the U.S. returns the ball to Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic during their third round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Coco Gauff of the U.S. returns the ball to Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic during their third round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Coco Gauff of the U.S. returns the ball to Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic during their third round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Coco Gauff of the U.S. returns the ball to Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic during their third round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic returns the ball to Coco Gauff of the U.S. during their third round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic returns the ball to Coco Gauff of the U.S. during their third round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Coco Gauff of the U.S. returns the ball to Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic during their third round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Coco Gauff of the U.S. returns the ball to Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic during their third round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Coco Gauff of the U.S. returns the ball to Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic during their third round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
PARIS (AP) — Coco Gauff got off to a terrific start in the French Open's third round Saturday, taking 12 of the first 15 points for a 3-0 lead after just 10 minutes. The rest of the opening set went smoothly, too.
Things got much tougher from there, and the 2023 U.S. Open champion was merely two points from dropping the second set, before getting back in the right direction and defeating Marie Bouzkova 6-1, 7-6 (3) to reach Week 2 at Roland-Garros for the fifth consecutive year.
Advertisement
Gauff, a 21-year-old from Florida, was the runner-up in Paris in 2022 and is seeded No. 2 at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament this year.
Next up for her will be a matchup on Monday against No. 20 Ekaterina Alexandrova, with the winner moving into the quarterfinals.
After needing just a half-hour to claim the first set Saturday, Gauff wound up in a 75-minute struggle in the second.
That set included eight breaks of serve in a row as the sounds of popping fireworks drifted over to Court Philippe-Chatrier from the nearby soccer stadium belonging to Paris Saint-Germain, whose fans were gathering to attend a watch party ahead of the Champions League final against Italy's Inter Milan in Munich, Germany, later Saturday night.
Advertisement
The key in the second was when Gauff trailed 5-3, 30-love with Bouzkova serving. A total of four times, Bouzkova needed to string together two consecutive points to force a third set.
But Gauff wouldn't allow it, frequently stretching points with her terrific court coverage until she could find space to hit a winner. On one particularly memorable exchange, Gauff sprinted to barely reach a drop shot, scrambled into position to block back a volley, then leaped for an overhead smash.
By the end, Gauff had more than twice as many winners as Bouzkova in the second set, 22 to 11, and also helped herself by winning the point on 11 of her 14 trips to the net.
Gauff is one of five American women in the fourth round. The others are No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 7 Madison Keys, No. 16 Amanda Anisimova and unseeded Hailey Baptiste.
Advertisement
There were three U.S. men still in the bracket heading into Sunday.
Keys, who won the Australian Open in January, saved three match points while down 5-4 in the final set and came back to beat 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Keys now plays the 70th-ranked Baptiste.
Anisimova meets No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka for a spot in the quarterfinals, and Pegula — last year's U.S. Open runner-up — faces French wild-card entry Lois Boisson.
___
More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
John McEnroe Calls Lack Of American Tennis Success A ‘Problem'
TOPSHOT - US Frances Tiafoe celebrates after winning his men's singles match against Germany's ... More Daniel Altmaier on day 8 of the French Open tennis tournament on Court Suzanne-Lenglen at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on June 1, 2025. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP) (Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images) After completing his fourth-round victory over Daniel Altmaier at Roland Garros, American Frances Tiafoe shouted to the crowd, 'Let's f--king go. Let's f--king go.' Tiafoe and Tommy Paul are the first American men into the French Open quarterfinals since Andre Agassi in 2003 – and the first American duo since Pete Sampras beat Jim Courier in the quarters in 1996 -- but the question is: How far can they go? No American man has won a major title since Andy Roddick at the U.S. Open in 2003, and no American man has won Roland Garros since Agassi in 1999. 'We got to get some American men to win some majors, and that would make it, to me, much more interesting if Tiafoe, Tommy Paul [can win]' John McEnroe said on a TNT call with reporters ahead of the tournament. 'We never had that problem with the women, but we certainly have it with the men, and I think that's been a real problem for us.' Ben Shelton has been McEnroe's top pick to win a major for the American men, but if that happens it likely will be on a hardcourt. The big-serving left-hander from Atlanta reached the semifinals of the Australian Open this year, and of the U.S. Open in 2023. Shelton lost to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in four tough sets in the quarters at Roland Garros, and now No. 12 Paul will face No. 2 Alcaraz in the final eight. Alcaraz is 4-2 against Paul and won their only encounter on red clay in the quarters of the 2024 Paris Olympics, 6-3, 7-6(7). On Sunday, Paul defeated Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour, 52 minutes, a much shorter time than he needed in five-set wins against Marton Fucsovics and Karen Khachanov. "I'm enjoying it a lot," Paul said when asked about competing on clay. 'It was nice to get a straight-sets win today, give the body a little rest. I mean, as much as I love the five-setters, I definitely like the three-setters a little bit better. I am just excited for more matches.' Paul has now reached the last eight at three of the four majors, advancing to the semifinals at the Australian Open in 2023 and the quarters at Wimbledon in 2024. The 28-year-old is just the ninth American man in the Open Era and only active American to advance to Grand Slam quarter on all three surfaces. He joins Agassi, Michael Chang, Jimmy Connors, Courier, Vitas Gerulaitis, Brian Gottfried, McEnroe and Sampras. Tiafoe, meantime, beat Germany's Altmaier in straight sets and is the first American man since Agassi in 1995 to reach the quarters without dropping a set. He will face No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti on Tuesday. Tiafoe's only close calls have been a first-set tiebreaker in his third-round match against fellow American Sebastian Korda and the third-set tiebreaker against Altmaier. "I don't think anyone's really thinking that I would be in this position," Tiafoe said. "But at the same time, now that I'm here, let's win. There's nothing more fun than winning. Once I get my feet going and the match is under me, I'm dangerous." Tiafoe and Paul could potentially meet in an all-American semifinal, but clearly Musetti and Alcaraz will have something to say about that. And until an American man is able to break through and win a Slam, it will continue to be a 'problem' for McEnroe.
Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
Rembert drives in four, Irish cracks 3-run home run and Auburn advances to super regionals
Associated Press AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Chris Rembert drove in four runs, Ike Irish hit a three-run home run and Auburn advanced to the super regionals with an 11-1 victory over N.C. State on Sunday night. Andreas Alvarez (3-1) pitched five scoreless innings, allowing six hits and striking out five. Cade Fisher pitched the last four innings and picked up his second save. He allowed three hits and one run. Auburn (41-18) is in the super regionals for the fifth time. The Tigers have reached the College World Series twice in the super regional era and six times overall. The Tigers broke open a scoreless game with seven runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by Irish's bomb to right field. Rembert had a two-run single in the inning and added a two-run double in the fifth. Bub Terrell had three hits and drove in two runs and Chase Fralick added two RBIs for Auburn. N.C. State (35-21), which defeated Stetson 17-12 earlier on Sunday to reach the championship round, failed to score until the eighth inning when Justin DeCriscio lifted a sacrifice fly to right field. Dominic Fritton (5-6) pitched into the fourth inning and allowed three runs. Cooper Consiglio pitched 3 1/3 innings and allowed seven runs. ___ AP college sports: recommended in this topic
Fox Sports
2 hours ago
- Fox Sports
West Virginia rallies to beat Kentucky 13-12. wins second consecutive regional
Associated Press CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Ben Lumsden had four RBIs, Gavin Kelly drove in three runs and Armani Guzman hit a two-out RBI single to cap a six-run rally in the eighth inning as West Virginia beat Kentucky 13-12 on Sunday night to win the Clemson Regional. West Virginia, which won the first regional last season, advanced to its second consecutive super regional in Steve Sabins' first year as coach. Sabins spent nine seasons as an assistant — three as associate head coach — for Randy Mazey, who retired after 12 seasons with the Mountaineers. Guzman finished with four hits and three RBIs. Logan Sauve drove in two runs, one with a solo homer. Devin Burkes hit a solo home run in the eighth to give Kentucky a five-run lead. Grant Hussey drew a two-out walk in the eighth to load the bases for West Virginia and Sam White walked to drive in Guzman. Kelly and Lumsden followed with back-to-back two-run singles to make it 12-12. Patrick Herrera walked to lead off the fifth inning and scored on a single by Hudson Brown to give the Wildcats a 7-6 lead. Burkes and Luke Lawrence were each hit by a pitch in consecutive at-bats to help load the bases. Cole Hage drew a walk to drive in Brown, whose three-run homer in the sixth made it 11-7. Benjamin Hudson (3-1) pitched the eighth inning and gave up a solo home run to Burkes. Griffin Kirn worked a scoreless ninth for his first save. James McCoy (1-2) came on with one out in the fourth and runners at first and second and did not record an out. His wild pitch allowed the runners to move into scoring position before Lumsden and Brodie Kresser hit back-to-back singles to chase McCoy. ___ AP college sports: recommended
