Coco Gauff wins first round match at US Open – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Coco Gauff got off to an easy start in defending her US Open title, picking up a 6-2, 6-0 win over Varvara Gracheva on Monday.

Gauff took just over an hour, looking more like the player who won her first major title last year at age 19 than the one who lost her last two matches before traveling to New York.

Zheng Qinwen, the Olympic gold medalist in women’s tennis, stayed in the tournament by earning a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Amanda Anisimova.

Zheng began the Grand Slam season by reaching the final of the Australian Open, but she faced a tough task at the final major of the year: Anisimova, an American who reached the final of a hard-court warm-up tournament in Montreal earlier this month and returned to the top 50 of the WTA rankings.

But the No. 7 seed Chinese player was able to overcome Anisimova’s dominance and the match went into the second round. After becoming China’s first singles gold medalist at the Paris Olympics, she is now turning her attention back to the Grand Slams.

“When you win for the first time, the feeling of success stays with you for a long time. I managed that at the Australian Open, but I was just in the final and it takes so long to come back to reality,” said Zheng.

“I’ve had this experience before. This time, when I was successful at the Olympics, I tell myself that in the next tournament, everything starts from scratch. You are no longer the Olympic champion. Just be humble and try to work and fight in every single match, because if you don’t fight, there is a big chance that you will lose.”

Maria Sakkari, the No. 9 seed from Greece, was the first seed to be eliminated when she retired after losing the first set to China’s Wang Yafan. Sakkari, who also lost in the first round at Flushing Meadows last year, received treatment on her shoulder in the first set.

Winners in the men’s singles on Monday included Alexander Zverev (No. 4), Andrey Rublev (No. 6), Casper Ruud (No. 8) and Americans Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton, seeds Nos. 12 and 13, respectively. Shelton eliminated 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem, who was playing his last Grand Slam match before retiring after wrist injuries.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic will play against Radu Albot in the last match in the main stadium this evening.

The two number 1 seeds, Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner, are scheduled to play their first-round matches on Tuesday.

Sinner has been the center of attention since news broke last week that he tested positive for steroids twice in March but still avoided suspension.