Coco Gauff matches Aryna Sabalenka’s unwanted record in Canadian Open win over Danielle Collins

America’s Coco Gauff started her campaign in Toronto in style as she defeated fellow countrywoman Danielle Collins in the round of 64 of the Canadian Open on Tuesday. The current world number two came out on top with a score of 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. The scoreline, however, does not show the full picture.

Gauff was very lucky on the day as she emerged victorious despite making 23 double faults. It was the joint-most double faults registered by a player in the last 14 years in WTA events. Only current world number one Aryna Sabalenka has made 23 double faults in a match since 2011. Fourteen years back, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova ended up making 25 double faults during a match of the Baku Cup. Interestingly, Pavlyuchenkova came out on top in that contest in straight sets with a score of 7-5, 6-4.

Gauff, in the contest, in the third set, was just two points away from defeat, but her resilience pushed her through to the next round of the ongoing mega-event. Talking after the match, Gauff admitted that the match was ‘frustrating’ for her and expressed optimism that things would only improve from the third round onwards. "It was a frustrating match for me,” she said. “I felt like I was practising well and then I don't think I transferred it today, but hopefully I got my bad match of the tournament out of the way and I can come back stronger in the next round."

Gauff also went on to say that she is aware of where she is going wrong but conceded that she does not have time in between events to work on the weakness and improve it during the ongoing season. Gauff also highlighted that the problems she is facing in her serve have more to do with a ‘mental hurdle’.

Mental hurdle

"I mean, obviously I go down on my left side a lot on my serve, and it's something I'm aware of, but it's tough in the moment I guess to try not to do it," said Gauff. "I definitely want to get other opinions because, you know - I think it's sometimes more of an emotional, mental thing because if I go out on the practice court right now, I would make, like, 30 serves in a row. I've done it before. I think it's also just kind of a mental hurdle that I have to get over when it comes with that. But, yeah, I definitely want to look at other things because I don't want to lose matches like this anymore."

The result was an important one for Gauff as she was coming into the competition after suffering back-to-back defeats following her triumph at the French Open, where she defeated Sabalenka in the final with a score of 6-7, 6-2, 6-4. Gauff lost in the round of 16 tie at the Berlin Ladies Open to China’s Wang Xinyu in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-3. Guaff then suffered a shocking defeat in the first round of Wimbledon to Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-1. In that match, Gauff ended up making nine double faults as well, six more than Yastremska. Gauff will next face Veronika Kudermetova in the round of 32 clash of the competition on Thursday. Kudermetova cemented her spot in the third round after beating Serbia’s Olga Danilovic in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-2. This will be the fourth meeting between the two players in professional tennis. In the previous three meetings, Gauff had a slight edge as she won on two occasions and suffered just a solitary defeat. Their most recent meeting came in 2023 during a round of 16 clash at a WTA event in Beijing, where Guaff came out on top in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-2.