Gauff, Pegula, Sinner sweep into third round of French Open
Coco Gauff beat Tereza Valentova in straight sets in the second round of the 2025 French Open on Thursday in Paris. Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI
May 29 (UPI) -- Coco Gauff needed 75 minutes to oust her third-round foe, while Jessica Pegula and top-ranked Jannik Sinner were among other top tennis players to advance to the third round Thursday at the 2025 French Open.
Gauff, the No. 2 player in the WTA Tour singles rankings, struggled with her serve, but still converted 8 of 13 break point opportunities in the 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 51 Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic on Thursday in Paris.
Advertisement
She totaled 23 unforced errors and nine forced errors, compared to Valentova's respective 33 and 18.
Gauff will meet No. 47 Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic in the third round. The winner will face No. 46 Veronika Kudermetova or No. 20 Ekaterina Alexandrova, both of Russia, in the fourth round.
Bouzkova beat No. 56 Sonay Kartal of Great Britain in straight sets in her second-round match.
Coco Gauff serves against Czech Tereza Valentova during the second round of the 2025 French Open on Thursday in Paris. Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI
Kudermetova upset No. 15 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic. Alexandrova swept No. 89 Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy.
Pegula, ranked No. 3, beat No. 55 Ann Li of the United States in straight sets. She totaled 23 unforced errors and 14 forced errors in the 6-3, 7-6(3) victory. Li, who edged Pegula 4-1 in aces, totaled 33 unforced errors and 27 forced errors.
Coco Gauff returns a shot to Tereza Valentova during their second-round match at the 2025 French Open on Thursday in Paris. Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI
Pegula will battle No. 96 Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in the third round. Vondrousova beat No. 26 Magdalena Frech of Poland in her second-round match.
Advertisement
"It was a really tough match today," Pegula said. "Ann has been playing some really good tennis this year and had a lot of close matches with good players. It was tricky with the wind. She was slicing a lot, kind of making me earn a lot of points.
Coco Gauff plays against Tereza Valentova in the second-round of the 2025 French Open on Thursday in Paris. Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI
"I felt like it was a pretty physical match, a lot of long points and long games. But happy I was able to kind of hold on to that second set there definitely."
No. 7 Madison Keys and No. 70 Hailey Baptiste were among the other American women to advance at the clay-court Grand Slam.
Tereza Valentova plays against Coco Gauff during their second-round match at the 2025 French Open on Thursday in Paris. Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI
No. 6 Mirra Andreeva of Russia and No. 10 Paula Badosa of Spain were among the other top women's players to win second-round matches Thursday at Roland-Garros.
Advertisement
Sinner and No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany were among the top men to advance.
Sinner dispatched No. 166 Richard Gasquet of France in straight sets. He totaled 27 winners, 20 unforced errors and 20 forced errors in the 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 match, which lasted nearly two hours.
The Italian will face No. 34 Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic in the third round. Gasquet, who played the final match of his career, totaled 2029 unforced errors and 35 forced errors.
"It's obviously a very special place for me to play," Sinner said. "Against Richard, we already played last year here, it's always very tough. I'm generally very happy to be in the third round. Thank you guys [fans] for making it fair."
Advertisement
No. 62 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the day, beating No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in a 2-hour, 52-minute match.
No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 10 Holger Rune of Norway and Americans No. 12 Tommy Paul (No. 12) and Ben Shelton (No. 13) will be among the top men's players in action Friday in Paris.
No. 16 Frances Tiafoe will meet fellow American Sebastian Korda (No. 23) in another third-round match.
No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 4 Jasmine Paolini of Italy, No. 5 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 7 Zheng Qinwen of China, No. 14 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and No. 16 Amanda Anisimova of the United States will be among the top women in singles matches Friday at Roland-Garros.
Third-round French Open coverage will start at 5 a.m. EDT Friday on TNT and Max.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
30 minutes ago
- USA Today
Zachary Reese vs. Dusko Todorovic prediction, pick, start time for UFC on ESPN 68
Zachary Reese vs. Dusko Todorovic prediction, pick, start time for UFC on ESPN 68 Middleweights Zachary Reese and Dusko Todorovic kick of the UFC on ESPN 68 main card in Las Vegas. How long will it last? Zachary Reese and Dusko Todorovic meet Saturday in the main card opener of UFC on ESPN 68 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom. Last event: 3-1 UFC main cards, 2025: 46-39-1 Zachary Reese vs. Dusko Todorovic UFC on ESPN 68 preview Reese (8-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) will look to rebound from a first-round loss to Azamat Bekoev in January. Prior to the setback, Reese recorded his first and second victories under the UFC banner by stopping Julian Marquez and then winning a decision over Jose Medina. ... Todorovic (12-5 MMA, 3-5 UFC) will aim to stop his current skid at two, both of which were fights he was finished in the first round. Todorovic's last victory came by second round stoppage of Jordan Wright in October 2022. Zachary Reese vs. Dusko Todorovic UFC on ESPN 68 expert pick, prediction In keeping with the UFC matchmakers' favorite fetish of force-feeding us middleweight fights on Apex main cards, Reese and Todorovic are prominently featured to kick off the main slate of action this Saturday. In the matchmakers' defense, this fight should be action-packed for as long as it lasts. Reese and Todorovic are capable finishers in most phases, but both men could also be classified as 'glass cannons' given their suspect staying power. Each fighter has also shifted training camps ahead of this contest, with Reese settling into my backyard of Xtreme Couture MMA. That potential bias aside, I believe that working with former Todorovic opponents like Punahele Soriano and Mansur Abdul-Malik will benefit a young fighter like Reese. Regardless of the result, I'd like to see more from Reese given his opportunistic, quick-finishing sensibilities. That said, I'm not sure we will get an extended fight here. I'll semi-reluctantly pick Reese to come out on top of this car crash via a knockout in Round 1. Zachary Reese vs. Dusko Todorovic UFC on ESPN 68 odds The oddsmakers and the public favor the American fighter, listing Reese -250 and Todorovic +198 via FanDuel. Zachary Reese vs. Dusko Todorovic UFC on ESPN 68 start time, how to watch As the main card opener, Reese and Todorovic are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 9:10 p.m. ET. The fight broadcasts on ESPN+.
44 minutes ago
French Open 2025: Coco Gauff emerges from a tough second set to return to Week 2 in Paris
PARIS -- 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. 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. 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. 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. last year's U.S. Open runner-up — faces French wild-card entry Lois Boisson.
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
French Open 2025: Coco Gauff emerges from a tough second set to return to Week 2 in Paris
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. 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. 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. 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. ___
