Second seed battled past Czech teenager Tereza Valentova with a straight-sets win in a scrappy French Open second-round encounter on Thursday.
The American, a runner-up in 2022, wrapped up a 6-2, 6-4 success after only 75 minutes on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Gauff, who has made at least the quarter-finals in each of the past four years, was the beneficiary of 33 unforced errors from her 18-year-old opponent.
She will take on another Czech in World No. 47 Marie Bouzkova in the last-32. Gauff struggled on serve throughout, being broken five times. But the only hold of the second set, in the fifth game, proved crucial as she closed out victory. “Overall, it was fine. I could have been more aggressive on serve but the return game was good,” Gauff said.
Meanwhile. third seed beat 55th-ranked fellow American Ann Li 6-3, 7-6 (7/3). She will face Marketa Vondrousova for a place in the last-16.
Earlier, Russia’s Mirra Andreeva cruised into the French Open last 32 on Thursday with a straight-sets victory over American Ashlyn Krueger. The 18-year-old, seeded sixth at Roland Garros, wrapped up a 6-3, 6-4 win on Court Simonne Mathieu in just 73 minutes. Andreeva, who reached the semi-finals last year, will face either Taiwan’s Joanna Garland or Kazakh 32nd seed Yulia Putintseva in the third round.