NEW YORK -- Coco Gauff opened her quest for a second US Open title Tuesday by beating Zeynep Sonmez 6-3, 6-4, regaining control midway through the second set after her opponent from Türkiye picked up her play.
At 1 hour and 20 minutes, it tied the second-shortest Round 1 match of the fourth-seeded American's US Open career. Gauff, 22, was pushed to three sets in five of her previous seven opening-round matches at Flushing Meadows.
Even Gauff, playing at Arthur Ashe Stadium to open the night session, had to applaud a couple of times when her opponent hit some nifty shots. There was the ball that Sonmez tracked down deep in the corner and hit down the line on the run. There was a volley with unusual spin that just cleared the net for another point.
Many of the rest of the highlights belonged to Gauff.
"I know that I can raise my level if I need to do and I like to challenge my opponent to let them keep up the level the whole match," Gauff said. "And if they do, I clap my hands and I walk off court with my head held high."
Instead, she's walking into a second-round match against Paula Badosa or Daria Kasatkina.
Gauff was battling serving woes when she arrived in Flushing Meadows last year and began working with a new coach on the eve of the tournament. There wasn't time to fix her problems, and Gauff had to battle though a rocky opener before getting easily ousted by Naomi Osaka in the fourth round.
Gauff returned this year with the confidence and momentum of a serious contender, winning the title in Cincinnati -- like she did in 2023 before going on to win her first Grand Slam as a teenager -- after semifinal runs at Wimbledon and Toronto.
On Tuesday, Gauff won 64% of her second serve points -- her third-highest percentage of second serve points won in a US Open match.
Gauff is in the mix for the No. 1 world ranking following the US Open, as are Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula. To take No. 1, Gauff would need to win the title and have Rybakina lose before the semifinals.
Later Tuesday night, over at Louis Armstrong Stadium, 21-year-old Alex Eala breezed into the second round with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Mary Stoiana.
This summer has seen Eala beat Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon and win her first tour singles title. She's at a career-best 18th in the world, and her fans came out in droves Tuesday, bearing Filipino flags and wearing hats telling her to fight on ("Laban Alex"). They cheered her sizzling groundstrokes, documented her volleys and serves in photos and video, and in some cases FaceTimed with friends or family -- and this was only at the practice courts.
About four hours before Eala was to take the court for her opening match, every seat at the practice court was filled. Many of Eala's fans didn't have tickets for the evening session. But they'd come to see her hit.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
