Melbourne, Jan 13 Third seed Coco Gauff advanced to the second round at the Australian Open with a challenging straight-set victory on Monday.
Gauff beat fellow U.S. player Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 20 minutes on center court at Melbourne Park, reported Xinhua.
Gauff was challenged at times by Kenin, the 2020 winner, but ultimately prevailed to advance to the tournament's second round for the fifth time in her career.
"It was a tough match for me today. I knew it was going to be difficult, but I'm happy with how I played," she said after the match.
The challenge posed by Kenin was typified in the first game of the match, in which she forced five deuces on Gauff's serve and had a break point opportunity before being overwhelmed by Gauff's powerful hitting.
It was the first of six break point chances in the match for Kenin, of which she converted only one.
Two of those chances came in the second set when trailing 4-3, Kenin could have leveled the score but squandered the opportunity with errors.
It was Gauff's 10th straight victory - a streak that includes wins over fellow Australian Open title contenders Zheng Qinwen, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek at the WTA Finals in December 2024 - and first over Kenin in a Grand Slam following defeats at the 2020 Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2023.
Kenin has won only one match at the Australian Open since she won the title in 2020, and she has now been knocked out of the tournament in the first round for four consecutive years.
Gauff will play Britain's Jodie Burrage in the second round.
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