Coco Gauff’s second-round match was a breeze compared to her first.
On Wednesday, No. 6 Gauff cruised to a two-set win, 6-3, 6-2, over Russia’s Mirra Andreeva at Arthur Ashe Stadium and it made for a drama-free morning, unlike the showdown with Laura Siegemund on the Grand Slam tournament’s opening night, where tennis fans saw just about everything in one match.
Andreeva, 16, is the youngest woman in the tournament and had previously reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and the third round at the French, where she also lost to Gauff.
Gauff approached the net 18 times in her second-round match Wednesday, winning 15 of those points.
She credited that newfound net game after struggling to beat Siegemund in three sets in the first round.
Throughout the first set, which Gauff lost 3-6 to Siegemund, the German ran the serve clock to zero during her serving frames and leisurely took her time to go to her towel while Gauff waited to serve.
The 19-year-old did not say a word to the chair umpire Marijana Veljovic until the second set, yelling at the woman for not enforcing time violation rules on Siegemund.
“She’s never ready when I’m serving, she went over to talk like four times, you only gave her a time violation once, how is this fair?” Gauff said in frustration.
“No, you’re calling the score after the point is over, it’s not like we’re playing long points. You’re calling the score like six seconds after the point is over!”
Gauff powered through the second set, taking it 6-2 as the 35-year-old Siegemund had a hard time keeping up with the young star.
Hence, her strategy.
In the deciding third set with Gauff leading 3-0, Siegemund threw her hands up in the air, signaling she wasn’t ready for Gauff’s serve and the umpire, with whom Siegemund noted she does not have a good relationship, honored her request.
“You have missed her like four times. She’s never ready! It’s not like we’re having, like 30-ball rallies. It’s two balls … I’m going at a normal speed! Ask any ref here, I go at a medium-pace speed,” Gauff continued.
Gauff was not alone in her frustration, as her coaches were visibly upset and the crowd roared in support of her, yelling “time” at Siegemund when she ran at the clock and pointing to their wrists to represent a watch.
Siegemund was not appreciative of this, as she blasted the home crowd in a post-match press conference.
“I never did anything against the audience,” she said. “I stayed calm. I never made — not even a gesture — against the audience. And they had no respect for me. They had no respect for the way I played. They have no respect for the player that I am. They have no respect for tennis, for good tennis. This is something that I have to say hurts really bad.”
“There is no doubt that I am slow. There is no doubt about that. I’m getting time violations. There is no doubt about that I should be quicker … But at the same time, it’s how I play. I’m very slow. I do it for me, I don’t do it against the other one. Clapping when you miss the first serve, those kinds of things, I have no understanding for it,” Siegemund continued.
After Gauff took home the match, Siegemund met her at the net, shaking her hand, but completely bypassed Veljovic, which fueled louder boos from the rowdy crowd.
After Wednesday’s victory, Gauff noticed an increase in her game since the 2:51 opener.
“I just learned to be aggressive,” she said after the match. “I think she [Andreeva] is the type of player if you give her something she is going to take advantage and today I did well of making her play off her back foot.
“Mirra, I think she has a great future ahead of her. I’ve been in her position before. Hopefully you guys can continue to support her. I think she’ll be back on this stage many more times in the future.”