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An error-prone Coco Gauff was dealt a major scare in her US Open curtain-raiser on Tuesday night before scraping past the experienced Ajla Tomljanovic in three sets.
Less than two weeks after recording 62 unforced errors in a shock Cincinnati Open defeat to Jasmine Paolini, Gauff appeared to pick up where she left off here at Flushing Meadows, where she fell two games behind in the opening set thanks to a series of costly mistakes.
The 21-year-old recently made the wise decision to employ Gavin MacMillan - a biomechanics specialist who was instrumental in solving Aryna Sabalenka's serving issues before she became world No 1 - to help fix her own problems after she double faulted a staggering 16 times against Paolini.
Despite the appointment of MacMillan, it took her just four points to put up her first double against Tomljanovic, the 32-year-old Croatian-born Australian with over 17 years worth of professional experience, and it set the tone in a troubling littered with errors on Gauff's behalf.
Tomljanovic, who has never made it past the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, was proving more than game as the pre-match favorite flattered to deceive.
Then came the big turning point in the first set for Gauff as she trailed 3-2 while facing serve. The 2023 champion outlasted her veteran opponent in a testing rally to earn break point, before closing the game out and leveling proceedings. It felt like a crucial moment, and it was.
Coco Gauff avoided a huge scare in her first-round tie at the US Open on Tuesday night
From there Coco began to find her groove, minimizing the unforced errors while ramping up the power on her groundstrokes to slowly exert dominance over Tomljanovic.
The latter still put up an impressive fight, including when she recovered from a looping lob shot to win a mesmerizing rally at 4-3 down before drawing level at 4-4, but a buoyant Gauff stepped on the gas and took the first set 6-4.
She entered the second with similar swagger, though Tomljanovic refused to wilt in an equally competitive affair.
Just as the reigning French Open champion looked to be on the home stretch to victory after moving 4-2 ahead, her relentless foe ripped up the script by breaking and holding to hand Gauff a fright at 4-4.
Then disaster struck for Coco. After a double fault, her sixth of the match at this stage, the American hero hit one shot long and another straight at the net to leave Tomljanovic with break point, and she duly closed it out to edge 5-4 ahead and serve for the set.
The unforced errors had suddenly crept back into Gauff's game. While trailing 30-15, she missed a golden opportunity to bury her opponent from up close, instead sending her attempted volley into the net.
Still, the two-time Grand Slam winner tapped into her champion resolve to dig out a pivotal break just as the tide seemed to be turning, before breezing through her own serve to move to within one game of the match.
Yet the brilliant Tomljanovic was not done there, as she held her nerve to set up the tensest of tiebreaks. And it was there where Gauff, again, completely lost control and hit unforced error after unforced error in a stunning 7-2 tiebreak loss.
On what should have been a straightforward opening night for the ex-champion, we were heading to a decisive third set.
Fatigue quickly set in for both women early on in the final stanza. Gauff immediately earned a break after sending a terrific backhand straight down the line, only to be broken straight back following another game littered with blunders.
Neither player was seemingly able to hold their serve as the home favorite broke once more, before she bucked the trend to give herself some much-needed breathe space at 3-1.
From there, Gauff took over and stormed into a 5-4 lead to serve for the match. Two consecutive double faults later, Tomljanovic was back again at 5-5 in this exhausting rollercoaster of a first-round tie.
Though just as the tension inside a nervous Arthur Ashe Stadium reached boiling point, the Atlanta-born star was able to clinch the final two games and sneak over the line to spare her blushes and advance to the second round after an unexpectedly grueling start to the tournament.
