Coco Gauff silences Wimbledon demons with dominant first round over Caroline Dolehide | Tennis.com
Coco Gauff Conquers Wimbledon Demons With Dominant Win
One year after exiting the All England Club early, the current US Open champion easily defeated Dolehide to kick off her quest for a fourth consecutive major semifinal.
The two players were competing against each other again at a big tournament for the second time this year. Earlier, Gauff had beaten Dolehide at the Australian Open as part of her winning streak of 12 matches in Grand Slam events, which ended when she lost in the semifinals to Aryna Sabalenka. With both Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka, who was expected to be her opponent in the fourth round, out of the Championships due to shoulder injuries, the 20-year-old player appeared to be even more likely to advance far in the tournament, especially since she has never reached the semifinals at this particular major.
After performing well at the Bad Homburg Open sponsored by Solarwatt, Gauff had a good grip on playing on grass as she easily won the first set and had a strong lead of 4-0 in the second set. Showing improvement in her serving, she only lost three points on her first serve throughout the match, bouncing back from struggling with her serve during the clay court tournaments.
Dolehide had a big achievement last year when she reached her first 1000-level final in Guadalajara. She showed incredible determination when she was close to losing by breaking her opponent's serve for the first time in the match and then holding her own serve to narrow the gap.
Instead of feeling the pressure, Gauff became more determined and managed to hold her serve for a 5-2 lead. She earned a match point against Dolehide's strong serve. Dolehide managed to save one match point when Gauff made a mistake with her forehand shot, but Gauff didn't give up. She quickly created another match point and successfully won, securing her spot in the second round.
Next up for her is Romanian player Anca Todoni, who managed to defeat lucky loser Olga Danilovic in a two-set match earlier today.
