Trending 
American tennis player Coco Gauff launched her 2026 US Open campaign with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 straight-set victory over Türkiye’s Zeynep Sönmez, showcasing major improvements in her serve.
The fourth-seeded 2023 champion dominated the baseline battle against the 53rd-ranked Sonmez, dropping serve only once.
“It’s incredible to be back on this court,” Gauff told the crowd following her win. “I love playing in this atmosphere.”
The American star breezed through the opening set without facing a single break point, forcing weak returns from Sönmez with her powerful serving.
Following serve struggles last season that led to a fourth-round exit, Gauff overhauled her stroke with biomechanics expert Gavin Macmillan—who previously revamped Aryna Sabalenka’s serve.
Fresh off a WTA 1000 title in Cincinnati, Gauff noted that her service mechanics have undergone “a gradual change” to build a far more consistent toss.
Sönmez mounted a stiff challenge in the second set, breaking back to draw level at 2-2 before briefly seizing the lead. However, Gauff erased multiple break points during a marathon service game at 2-3 to level the set, a moment she described as “real important.”
Relying on her big serve to hold and subsequently break Sönmez, Gauff comfortably closed out the match, emphasising that knowing it takes a massive effort to break her gives her immense confidence moving forward.
