Second seed Coco Gauff battled past Czech teenager Tereza Valentova with a straight-sets win in a scrappy French Open second-round encounter on Thursday.
The American, a Roland Garros runner-up in 2022, wrapped up a 6-2, 6-4 success after only 75 minutes on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Gauff, who has made at least the quarterfinals in each of the past four years, was the beneficiary of 33 unforced errors from her 18-year-old opponent.
She will take on another Czech in world number 47 Marie Bouzkova in the last 32.
Gauff struggled on serve throughout, being broken five times.
But the only hold of the second set, in the fifth game, proved crucial as she closed out victory.
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“Overall, it was fine. I could have been more aggressive on serve but the return game was good,” Gauff said.
Valentova won both the 2024 girls’ singles and doubles tournaments.
The 21-year-old Gauff is bidding for a first title since last year’s WTA Finals, after losing the Madrid and Rome finals to Aryna Sabalenka and Jasmine Paolini, respectively.
Former French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova said Thursday she was relieved to be able to play through the pain as she advanced to the third round at Roland Garros.
Vondrousova plays through pain to meet Pegula at French Open
Czech Vondrousova, the French Open losing finalist in 2019, rallied past Poland’s Magdalena Frech 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 and next meets third-seeded American Jessica Pegula.
Pegula, last year’s US Open runner-up, beat 55th-ranked fellow American Ann Li 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) in their second-round match on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Vondrousova has been plagued by injuries and underwent shoulder surgery last year.
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The 25-year-old reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros last year.
“If it stays like this I’m very happy,” said Vondrousova after coming through in two hours against 25th-seeded Frech.
“I’m happy to get through. I’m just proud of myself. I don’t feel that much pain in physio.”
She next faces Pegula who she beat in their only previous meeting — the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2023 — where the Czech became the lowest ranked winner of the tournament in the Open era.
