Coco Gauff kept getting herself in some trouble with shaky serving in the French Open second round, and she kept putting herself back in position to win by breaking right back on Thursday. The second-seeded Gauff, pursuing her first title at Roland-Garros, eliminated 172nd-ranked qualifier Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4 in 75 minutes.
Amid a soundtrack of sirens from nearby streets and roars from nearby courts, 2023 U.S. Open champion Gauff only managed to produce 11 winners, five fewer than her far-less-experienced opponent. Gauff also finished with 23 unforced errors, a total that included a half-dozen double-faults.
Against Valentova, an 18-year-old 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 the 21-year-old Floridian managed to immediately rebound to claim Valentova’s very next service game.
Other winners in the women's bracket included No. 3 Jessica Pegula, who was the runner-up at last year’s US Open, Australian Open champion Madison Keys, 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva and 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, who reached the 2019 final at Roland-Garros. Vondrousova, who is unseeded this year, eliminated No. 25 Magdalena Frech 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
In men’s play, No. 1 Jannik Sinner ended the career of 38-year-old Richard Gasquet by beating the Frenchman 6-3, 6-0, 6-4. No. 3 Alexander Zverev and No. 14 Arthur Fils also won, while 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic took a medical timeout to deal with a bothersome toe, before eliminating Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (1).
The result put Djokovic in the third round at Roland-Garros for the record 20th time — not even Rafael Nadal managed that. Two more wins and Djokovic will get to the tournament’s quarterfinals for the 16th consecutive year. He has won three of his 24 Grand Slam titles in Paris.
Djokovic ended his latest rut by winning his 100th career title at the Geneva Open before arriving at Roland-Garros.
“Before last week’s tournament in Geneva, I didn’t feel confident in my game. But it’s normal to feel that way, because I hadn’t won enough matches,” Djokovic said. “I'm like any other player in that respect. I've had to work hard to win.”
In the day’s last match, No. 5 seed Jack Draper of Britain erased a couple of set points that would have forced a fifth and held on to defeat French showman Gael Monfils 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 across more than three hours under the lights. Draper goes to a high-profile matchup against 18-year-old João Fonseca on Saturday.
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