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.