Gauff, Osaka cruise into second round

New York: The No. 3 seed American Coco Gauff rebounded from a slow start and a second-set wobble to outlast Ajla Tomljanovic, 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5 in the final match of the women’s first round. After a slow start—she trailed 2-0 and 3-1 in the opening set—Gauff appeared to be on her way to a routine victory, up 6-4, 4-2. But Tomljanovic was unbowed, slugging her way back into the match, denying Gauff when she was two points from victory at 6-5, and blitzing the American in the second-set tiebreak, 7-2, to force a decider

Gauff took the early advantage in the third, pulling ahead 3-1. But she couldn’t convert break opportunities in each of Tomljanovic’s next two service games and was broken serving for the match at 5-4, a pair of double faults gifting Tomljanovic an early advantage in the game.

Gauff then dug deep to break for a 6-5 lead held her serve to secure the hard-fought win.

Next up for Gauff is Donna Vekic, the former world No. 17 who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2024 and the quarterfinals at the US Open in 2019. Vekic outlasted world No. 40 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in a tough three-setter in the opening round. Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka kicked off her US Open campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Greet Minnen.

Facing the 106th-ranked Belgian, Osaka attained a solid level inside Louis Armstrong Stadium on Tuesday night to seal a place in the second round. Osaka will next play Hailey Baptiste in the second round.

Meanwhile  Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and Mirra Andreeva cruised to a first-round victory while 12th seed Elina Svitolina was knocked out in the opening round of women's singles in the US Open here on Tuesday. No. 27 seed Kostyuk battled past Great Britain’s Katie Boulter to kick off Round 1 play on Grandstand at the 2025 US Open; the match went the way of the Ukrainian, 6-4, 6-4 in their second encounter. In her second match since Wimbledon, Mirra Andreeva cruised to a first-round victory at the US Open over Alycia Parks. Andreeva dominated, winning 6-0, 6-1 in just 55 minutes. (IANS)

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