It was not an easy opening match for Coco Gauff at the US Open 2023, on the Arthur Ashe Stadium. The American tennis player defeated the German Laura Siegemund in three sets, in a rather complicated match, which also had some moments of great tension on the court.
In the third set, when she was ahead 3-0 in the score, the American protested against the chair umpire for a behavior that she didn’t like from her opponent: “She’s never ready when I have to serve. She has exceeded the time limit 4 times, you only gave her a violation once. How is that possible? You’re calling the score about 6 seconds after the point is over.”
Even at the press conference, Gauff was questioned by the media on the issue: “If you approach people with respect and show your version of events, I don’t think anything goes wrong. It’s important to be respected and point out injustices, I think she was doing something unregulated and it was nice to report it.”
The 19-year-old was delighted to have a visit from Barack and Michelle Obama: “It was an incredible feeling, they came to see me in the locker room and congratulated me for doing my own thing and having personality!”
Below the video shared on X by the @TheTennisLetter account:
Coco Gauff upset with the umpire in her match against Siegemund:
“She’s never ready when I’m serving. She went over the clock 4 times. You gave her a time violation once. How is this fair? You’re calling the score like 6 seconds after the point is over”
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 29, 2023
The first round of the US Open women’s singles
One of the most intense matches of the day was the challenge between Sloane Stephens and the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, victorious after a tough battle 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. Young Mirra Andreeva also won, beating her Australian rival Gadecki in three sets.
Jasmine Paolini failed to beat 20th seed Jelena Ostapenko. The Italian didn’t start very well and she lost 6-2 in the first set without worrying her opponent too much. The 27-year-old didn’t give up and reacted brilliantly in the second set, beating her 6-4. In the decisive set, the Latvian dominated the exchanges again and conquered the pass for the second round (6-1).
On court 17, success in two sets instead for the Czech Petra Kvitova, who took off in the first (6-1) and closed the match against the Spanish Cristina Bucsa in the tie-break.
Caroline Wozniacki’s return to New York was also a great celebration, as she successfully passed the first round of the main draw at the Louis Armstrong Stadium. The Danish, returning but already in excellent shape to be able to express a very good level of tennis, defeated the Russian Tatiana Prozorova 6-3, 6-2 with few problems.
There was no match between Elena Rybakina and Marta Kostyuk: the Kazakh, who can get a good result in Flushing Meadows (last year she was immediately eliminated), dominated the Ukrainian with an harsh 6-2, 6- 1.
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