Gauff advances to 2nd round at Australian Open despite serving struggles

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Third-seeded Coco Gauff had some familiar struggles on serve but had still enough class and power to defeat Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 6-3 on Monday in a first-round match at the Australian Open.

Gauff has won two Grand Slam titles but has never gone past the semifinals at Melbourne Park. She was knocked out in the quarterfinals last year.

The American has struggled with double-faults and had 431 in 2025 on the WTA Tour, by far the most of any player. No one else had more than 300. Gauff had six in the first set in the victory over Rakhimova, and only one in the second set.

The 21-year-old Gauff has been reworking her serve for the last several months and practiced some more during a comfort break in the match at Rod Laver Arena with Rakhimova.

Gauff faces left-handed Olga Danilovic in the second round. Danilovic defeated 45-year-old Venus Williams on Sunday in a first-round match, which erased the possibility of the two Americans facing off.

"There's not many (left-handed players) on Tour, but Olga's a great player, she's beat some top players so it's going to be a tough match," Gauff said.

Aryna Sabalenka is seeded No. 1 in Australia followed by Iga Świątek.