Coco Gauff of Atlanta, GA won a very intriguing first round match at the 2020 Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday. Gauff defeated seven-time grand slam champion Venus Williams of Lynwood, CA 7-6, 6-3. The reason why this match was so intriguing is because it had the oldest woman in the singles draw (Williams at 39 years old) versus the youngest woman in the singles draw (Gauff at 15 years old).
In a match that lasted one hour and 37 minutes, Gauff was the competitor who made the fewest mistakes in the match. Gauff had 30 unforced errors and four double faults, compared to the 41 unforced errors and six double faults for Williams.
Gauff was one of five American women to win in the first day of singles. The other four were Serena Williams (Venus’s younger sister) of Saginaw, MI, Caty McNally of Cincinnati, OH, Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, FL and Ann Li of Devon, PA.
McNally and Li both won as qualifiers and beat Australian opponents in the process. Li beat wildcard Lizette Cabrera 7-6, 7-6, while McNally knocked out Samantha Stosur 6-1, 6-4. Stosur’s greatest tennis accomplishment was winning the 2011 United States Open.
Serena Williams and Kenin both won as favorites as they are each seeded players. Williams, the eighth seed, beat Russian Anastasia Potapova quite easily 6-0, 6-3 in 58 minutes. While Kenin, the 14th seed, beat Martina Trevisan of Italy, 6-2, 6-4. Trevisan had reached the women’s main draw of the Australian Open after defeating 2014 Australian Open semifinalist Eugenie Bouchard of Canada in the final round of qualifying.
Every major is important for Serena Williams. At 38 years of age, she has 23 grand slam titles to her name. Serena Williams needs one more to tie the record set by Margaret Court of Australia, who has won 24 grand slam titles from 1960 to 1973. Ironically, the second largest court at the Australian Open is called the Margaret Court Arena.
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