America’s best shot on the women’s side at Wimbledon is heading home after her first match in London. Second-seeded Coco Gauff, who won the French Open last month in capturing her second major, was ousted by Dayana Yastremska in straight sets 7-6, 6-1.
Gauff failed to play with the same confidence level she showed this earlier this summer against Aryna Sabalenka in the French final, playing from behind throughout the match. Gauff suffered a critical double fault in the tiebreaker to end the first set, a major miscue that left Yastremska with a prime opportunity.
Gauff endured nine double faults in the match and dropped to 21-12 all-time on grass.
Heading into Wimbledon, Gauff said she was “excited” about the opportunity at a third Grand Slam.
“Physically, I played a tournament last week and it wasn’t so great, and now I’m really just trying to focus on the fundamentals of playing on grass and things like that,” Gauff said. “So I’m super excited and I feel like each day I’m getting better and hopefully I can do well here.”
Gauff’s lack of rhythm with her serve morphed into a series of shots where she appeared to second guess herself thereafter. Gauff was on the defensive throughout the match and lost her serve in the first game of the second set with Yastremska not being fooled by consistency issues from the American.
Commentator Chrissie Evert mentioned how fast Gauff was trying to play fast and the need to slow down and focus more point to point, rather than speed up the match. Gauff made three consecutive forehand errors in the fourth game of the second set, struggling to make adjustments on a shot she normally crushes.
Many of her usually well-placed, attacking returns were flat and had very little lift when approaching the net.
Gauff reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, but never found her shot this time around. Yastremska is ranked No. 42 in the world and was 23-14 overall this year prior to her career march against Gauff.
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