PARIS — Coco Gauff kept getting herself in trouble Thursday with shaky serving in the second round of the French Open, but she kept putting herself back in position to win by breaking right back.
The second-seeded Gauff, a 21-year-old American pursuing her second Grand Slam tournament title but her first on the red clay of Roland-Garros, eliminated 172nd-ranked qualifier Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-4, in 75 minutes on a partly cloudy, warm afternoon at Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
Amid a soundtrack of sirens from nearby streets and roars from nearby courts, the 2023 U.S. Open champion managed to produce only 11 winners, five fewer than her much less experienced opponent. Gauff also finished with 23 unforced errors, a total that included a half-dozen double faults.
Against the 18-year-old Valentova, who won the junior title at the French Open last year and was competing in the main draw at a major tournament for the first time, Gauff got broken five times. Four of those came in the second set — and each time, Gauff managed to immediately rebound to win Valentova’s very next service game.
“Honestly, I wasn’t really aware of her age until today, when I just randomly looked and I saw she won juniors last year,” Gauff said. “So I was like, OK, she’s definitely young. But, yeah, whenever you’re playing someone young, you know they’re probably going to be free and relaxed, and I felt like that’s what she was today.”