MELBOURNE: Third-seeded Coco Gauff had some familiar struggles on serve but had still enough class and power to defeat Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 6-3 on Monday in a first-round match at the Australian Open.
Gauff has won two Grand Slam titles but has never gone past the semifinals at Melbourne Park. She was knocked out in the quarterfinals last year.
The American has struggled with double-faults and had 431 in 2025 on the WTA Tour, by far the most of any player. No one else had more than 300. Gauff had six in the first set in the victory over Rakhimova, and only one in the second set.
The 21-year-old Gauff has been reworking her serve for the last several months and practiced some more during a comfort break in the match at Rod Laver Arena with Rakhimova.
Gauff faces left-handed Olga Danilovic in the second round. Danilovic defeated 45-year-old Venus Williams on Sunday in a first-round match, which erased the possibility of the two Americans facing off.
“There’s not many (left-handed players) on Tour, but Olga’s a great player, she’s beat some top players so it’s going to be a tough match,” Gauff said.
No. 4 Amanda Anisimova, runner-up at the last two majors, advanced 6-3, 6-2 over Simona Waltert, No. 6 Jessica Pegula beat Anastasia Zakharova 6-2, 6-1 and No. 14 Clara Tauson had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Dalma Galfi.
Former champ out
Sofia Kenin’s poor recent run at the Australian Open continued as she lost 6-3, 6-2 to fellow-American Peyton Stearns.
Kenin was a surprise winner here in 2020, but has since struggled at Melbourne Park losing in the first round for the fifth consecutive time.
No. 15 Emma Navarro lost in three sets to Magda Linette of Poland.
Auger-Aliassime retires with injury
In an early result on the men’s side, No. 7 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada retired in his match with Nuno Borges of Portugal. Borges led 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 after just over two hours when the 25-year-old walked to the net to shake hands.
“I’m OK, but I just started cramping at the start of the third set,” the Canadian said. “Yeah, it became very difficult to be competitive at this level. I tried for a set, but yeah, wasn’t possible today.
“I can’t recall ever in my life (cramping) this early in a tournament, this early in a match.”
In other men’s first-round matches three-time Australian Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev beat Jesper de Jong 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (2) to continue a streak Down Under that included a title run in Brisbane. No. 19 seed Tommy Paul defeated Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in an all-American match to advance along with Reilly Opelka and No. 13 Andrey Rublev.
Local hope Alex de Minaur, the No. 6 seed, beat Mackenzie McDonald — a lucky loser from qualifying who replaced the injured former Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini — 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 in an afternoon match on Rod Laver Arena.
Coco Gauff advances to second round at Australian Open despite serving struggles
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Coco Gauff advances to second round at Australian Open despite serving struggles
- Gauff has struggled with double-faults and had 431 in 2025 on the WTA Tour, by far the most of any player
- No one else had more than 300. Gauff had six in the first set in the victory over Rakhimova and one in the second set
Neto treble fires Chelsea’s FA Cup rout of Hull
KINGSTON UPON HULL: Chelsea eased into the FA Cup fifth round as Pedro Neto’s hat-trick inspired a 4-0 win at Hull on Liam Rosenior’s return to the club that sacked him two years ago.
Rosenior’s side took the lead through Neto’s superb first-half strike before the Portugal forward netted again after the break.
Estevao Willian scored Chelsea’s third and Neto completed his treble to wrap up the fourth round rout at the MKM Stadium.
It was an emotional evening for Blues boss Rosenior as he faced the club that ruthlessly severed their long relationship with him in 2024.
Rosenior supported Hull as a child alongside his season-ticket holding grandmother, played for the club across five years and managed them for two seasons.
He was sacked after narrowly failing to reach the Championship play-offs amid criticism of his team’s conservative tactics.
Despite the painful end to his time at Hull, the 41-year-old said it was an “amazing thing” to return to Humberside and he took full advantage of the chance to show his old club what they had missed out on.
“This club means a lot not just to me but also my family for many reasons,” Rosenior said.
“I do hope they make the Premier League this year, but because of our attitude and application, that is what gave us the platform to win tonight.”
Rosenior has made an impressive start at Chelsea since arriving from Strasbourg to replace Enzo Maresca in January, winning eight out of his first 11 matches in all competitions.
He made seven changes, with Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez and Joao Pedro among those to miss out, but Chelsea were still too strong for the Championship promotion chasers.
“Pedro Neto has been outstanding, he works so hard and has so much quality. I’m delighted to see him get the goals,” Rosenior said.
“The most pleasing aspect was the mentality. It was a really strong performance in terms of the mental application you need to be successful. Everyone worked really hard for each other.”
Chelsea dominated possession to such an extent that it was little surprise when they finally made the breakthrough in the 40th minute.
Liam Delap teed up Neto and he whipped a superb finish into the corner from 20 yards.
Andrey Santos’ towering header was pushed over by Dillon Phillips after the interval and, from the resulting corner, Chelsea doubled their lead in the 51st minute.
Neto’s inswinger caught Phillips flat-footed at the near post, bouncing through his legs without a touch from either team.
Chelsea had blown a two-goal advantage in their 2-2 draw with Leeds in the Premier League on Tuesday.
But there was no chance of a repeat and Estevao grabbed their third with a composed finish from 12 yards in the 59th minute.
Neto made it four in the 71st minute, caressing a low finish past Phillips from Delap’s lay-off.
Wrexham beat fellow Championship side Ipswich 1-0 in Friday’s other fourth round tie.
The Welsh club, owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, are into the last 16 for the first time since 1996-97.
