Wobbles and winners as Gauff begins Melbourne title quest

Coco Gauff started her Australian Open with a positive outcome, having overcome issues with her service to move through to another round under heat in Melbourne.The third seed beat Russia-born Kamilla Rakhimova of Uzbekistan 6-2, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena, finally finding rhythm after an uncertain start and keeping her title hopes alive in Melbourne.“I tried not to put too much pressure on myself,” Gauff said afterward. “I want to win this tournament. I'm only satisfied if I win, but I'm proud of myself regardless of how it goes.”This two-time Grand Slam champion relied on her solid return game to give world number 93 troubles, breaking her serve quite repeatedly.“It's the great thing of being a good returner,” she said. “You have a good chance of breaking in every game.”Gauff, who has her best result at the Melbourne tournament with a semi-final appearance in 2024, appeared frustrated as her serve began malfunctioning, with six double faults committed in the first set along with 19 unforces errors.Three of these double faults occurred in the first service game, although she calmed down sufficiently well to avoid elimination. On the eve of the tournament Gauff said that she has "good days and really bad days" with her serve.She soon found her groove, hitting an ace to finish off the first set. The second set saw her improve her level of consistency, committing fewer errors and taking charge from the baseline.However, another moment when her focus waned was when she served for the set at 5-2, giving Rakhimova an opportunity to break. Gauff immediately recovered, breaking right back to win the set in only one hour and 39 minutes.