Defending champion Coco Gauff advances to second round after easy win over Varvara Gracheva

New York: Defending champion Coco Gauff got off to a winning start at the US Open with a 6-2, 6-0 win over France's Varvara Gracheva on Arthur Ashe Stadium. 

The victory marks Gauff's eighth straight match-win at the US Open. Last year, Gauff made history by winning her first Grand Slam title at the Flushing Meadows, becoming the first American teenager to win the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999.

Gauff will face German veteran Tatjana Maria in the second round. The 37-year-old Maria, who was a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2022, defeated Argentine qualifier Solana Sierra 6-2, 6-3 in her opener. Gauff's fellow Americans Madison Keys, Taylor Townsend, and Peyton Stearns joined the defending champion in the second round. No.14 seed Keys dispatched Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1 in just 64 minutes on Louis Armstrong Stadium. World No.48 Townsend clinched her second-round spot with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Italy's Martina Trevisan. And World No.47 Stearns moved into the second round with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over 2018 US Open quarterfinalist Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine.

Meanwhile World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka registered a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over Australian qualifier Priscilla Hon in her US Open opener.  The reigning Australian Open champion, Sabalenka, who has reached the US Open semifinals or better in her past three attempts, will next face Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti, who advanced after New Zealand's Lulu Sun was forced to retire after losing the first set 6-3. (IANS)

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