Amid all the talk about the potential Coco Gauff has to script an upset in repeating her Cincinnati Open feat against Iga Swiatek, the American went down in the opening set 6-3 against Laura Siegemund. The memories of Wimbledon last month came rushing back, where she had suffered an opening round loss to Sofia Kenin. But the 19-year-old dug deep, overcame a tensed mid-match row with her opponent that drew jeers from the crowd before scripting a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win to reach the second round at the Flushing Meadows. After the win, Gauff took to the on-court interview to brutally mock her opponent over that altercation.
Despite the horror from SW19 haunting her, Gauff maintained her composure and with the thousands of partisan fans getting rowdier by the moment in the second set, the sixth-seed converted her eighth break point in the game to gain the edge over the German qualifier.
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And moment after gaining the lead in the match, Gauff let out her frustration at how Siegemund kept her waiting before every point by rushing towards her towel.
“She's never ready when I'm serving. ... How is this fair?” said Gauff as she charged towards chair umpire Marijana Veljovic. “I'm going a normal speed. Ask any ref here. ... I've been quiet the whole match. ... Now it's ridiculous. I don't care what she's doing on her serve, but (on) my serve, she has to be ready.”
Veljovic warned the German immediately, but Gauff ended up losing that game. Later, Siegemund was docked a code violation for delaying, which sent Gauff 5-1 up. It was then when Siegemund walked to the umpire to argue her case saying — “I can't go to the towel anymore?” — and the crowd immediately began to boo her.
{{/usCountry}}Veljovic warned the German immediately, but Gauff ended up losing that game. Later, Siegemund was docked a code violation for delaying, which sent Gauff 5-1 up. It was then when Siegemund walked to the umpire to argue her case saying — “I can't go to the towel anymore?” — and the crowd immediately began to boo her.
{{/usCountry}}Siegemund then threatened to make a comeback after Gauff double-faulted three times when serving for the match at 5-2, but it remained her last hiccup as she wrapped up the tensed clash in 2-hours and 51 minutes. After the win, ESPN's Pam Shriver, during the on-court interview, asked her about her match against Siegemund and Gauff replied saying: “Slow.”
Gauff has now played 13 matches in the North America hard court swing, winning 12 of tjem and dropping only four sets and won two big titles oher career which included the her maiden victory against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in eight meetings en route to her first WTA 1000 win in Cincinnati.
“August has been a great month for me,” Gauff said. “I’m really excited to go into the rest of this month -- hopefully a little bit into September, as well.”
Gauff will next face Mirra Andreeva, 16, the youngest player in the main draw, who beat Olivia Gadecki in three sets. This will be their second meeting on WTA tour. Gauff had won in three sets in their French Open third-round clash where the Russian had claimed the first set.