Coco Gauff earned a hard-fought round one comeback win over German qualifier Laura Siegemund in Flushing at the U.S. Open on Monday night to advance to the second round.
First night win on Ashe for Coco Gauff ✅ pic.twitter.com/Q6v1lo14oD
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 29, 2023
The No. 6 seed began her bid for the final Grand Slam of 2023 with a first-set loss, followed by her taking the next two sets for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win.
But Gauff vocalized frustrations on the court about her opponent who repeatedly went over the time limit when she served.
"She's never ready when I'm serving, she went over to talk like four times ... how is this fair?" Gauff questioned the chair umpire on the court mid-match.
By the middle of the third set, Gauff had enough, telling the umpire, "It's not like we're having two 30-ball rallies. It's two balls ... I'm going a normal speed."
When the head umpire eventually called a second time violation against Siegemund, Gauff earned a free point to go up 5-1 in the final set.
"She is serving extremely fast and one time I go to the towel," Siegemund said. "So I can't go to the towel at all anymore?" she posited to the umpire as the crowd roared, rallying for Gauff.
The 35-year-old, who is ranked No. 121, didn't give up without a fight and won three more games in a row before Gauff closed out the third set.
When asked to describe what it was like playing the match, Gauff responded on court, "Slow."
Gauff is looking to surpass her quarterfinal finish from last year, though it did push her into the top 10 for the first time in her career.
Recently, Gauff has attributed her success to a surge in confidence in her own game and ability to trust herself even when she's not feeling in top form.
Sigemund entered the year-end Grand Slam second in the WTA for first-serve percentage of 75.8%.
Against Gauff, Siegemund's first-serve percentage stood at 80% and she finished the match winning 33 of 53 net points.
Following Gauff, Novak Djokovic won a late-night match in straight sets that wrapped up shortly before 1 a.m.
"These children should go to sleep ... but adults, adults you can stay," Djokovic said on the court with a laugh.
Djokovic, whose last U.S. Open title came in 2018, is coming in hot off of a thrilling Cincinnati title that was the result of a three-set final victory over Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz.
