Coco Gauff marches into Australian Open 2nd round in bid for consecutive Slam titles

Melbourne: With increased confidence in her serve thanks to some advice from Andy Roddick, Coco Gauff began her quest for back-to-back Grand Slam singles titles with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova at the Australian Open on Monday.

The 19-year-old American, who won her first major at the U.S. Open in September, wrapped up victory in exactly one hour.

“I was a little nervous the first set,” fourth-seeded Gauff said. “I think I did well returning, then I found my serve toward the end (of the set). When I was nervous at 3-3, I told myself: I feel good, I look good, so just have fun’. That was able to relax me a little bit’.”

Gauff dropped just one point on her serve in the second set and said that former No. 1 Roddick had recently given her some serving tips.

“It was really cool,” she said. “He’s a really chill guy. I met him before but never to that level. I went to Charlotte (North Carolina) for two days. It was a really good two days. I think that my serve has improved. He’s probably one of the best servers in history . . . “

Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova was beaten 6-1, 6-2 by Dayana Yastremska.

Seventh-seeded Vondrousova missed the Adelaide tune-up event with a hip injury and struggled on serve throughout, hitting seven double faults.

“I didn’t practice because I was injured,” she said. “I think that was the important thing. I lost myself at the beginning.”

Third-seeded Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 and 2022 finalist at Melbourne

Park, advanced to the second round when his opponent Terence Atmane retired early in the fourth set suffering from cramps.

Medvedev had dropped the first set but was leading 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 1-0 when the 22-year-old Atmane quit.

“It’s quite funny because when I was feeling tired in the third set, I looked up the other end and saw he was cramping,” Medvedev said.