Wimbledon, England — Coco Gouf became the third woman in the open era to lose in the first round at Wimbledon shortly after winning the championship at the French Open, eliminating 7-6 (3), 6-1 by Ukrainian unseeded Dayana Yastremska on Tuesday night.
No. Gauff, ranked 2, is No. After making a mistake in one court, he ended with a total of 29 forced errors, including just six winners and nine double faults.
“Dayana has started playing hard,” Gouf said. “I couldn’t find my footing today.”
Golf joined another highly seeded American American Jessica Pegra to bow on the second day of the tournament. According to ESPN Research, two of the top three seeds marked the first women’s major in the open era when they lost their opening matches.
It was more than three weeks ago that Gauff was celebrating her second Grand Slam title after first place Aryna Sabalenka in the final of Red Clay of Roland-Garros.
Gouf admitted he had admitted.
“I feel mentally a bit overwhelming with everything that has come since then,” said Gouf, 21.
She didn’t really matter that their match locations were shifted from Centre Court to Court No. 1 on Tuesday, or that they were told about the new opening times about an hour before the contest began.
Gauff’s big breakthrough proved to be her fewest major when she reached the fourth round when she defeated Venus Williams in an opening match held at the All England Club at the age of 15 in 2019.
It’s the only slam that Gauff has not made the semi-finals at least.
Certainly, she has not yet passed the fourth round and has been sent home twice in the first round in the last three years.
The transition from clay to grass has proven tough for most players, with the last woman to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season was Serena Williams a decade ago.
Still, since the opening era began in 1968, only Justin Henin was to leave London in 2005, and Francesca Ciaborne held the Paris trophy in 2010.
Gauff never had a best Tuesday at all against Yasternska, who lost all three previous matchups and ranked 42nd.
For Gauff, it was her serving, as often as it is. She managed to play 45% of her first serve, earning 14 of her 32 second serve points, earning all double faults, including a pair of tiebreakers, and included another double fault when it broke to open the second set.
“When I work well and I can have some games I’ve done, it’s definitely an additional threat,” Gauff said. “I didn’t serve that well.”
Yasteremska’s best grand slam result was making it all the way through to the semi-finals on the Australian Open’s hard court last year, but she took part in the event with a 10-11 record in her first round match at Majors.
By contrast, Goff was 20-3 at that stage. This includes the 2023 defeat to Sophia Kenin at Wimbledon.
Yasternska’s deepest run at Wimbledon reached the final of the 2016 junior event, but won the fourth round in 2019.
“I was really on fire,” said Yasternska, who accumulated 16 winners. “It’s special to play against Coco.”
She recently arrived at her first tournament final in Glass at a small event in Nottingham.
“I love playing with the grass. This year we feel like we’re kind of friends,” Yastremska said with a laugh. “I hope the path continues for me here.”
This report uses information from the Associated Press.
