The 2024 US Open continued on Wednesday with a strong slate of tennis stars, including Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic among those striving for the title in Flushing Meadows.
The defending women’s and men’s champions both had some moments of discomfort — literally in Djokovic’s case — but both advanced to the third round without dropping a set.
After a tough first set, Gauff was able to take the win over Tatjana Maria in straight sets, outlasting the veteran German player to advance to the third round. Although Gauff was able to use her athleticism to her advantage, Maria made her work for it in the first set, forcing her all around the court.
Gauff took the first game with relative ease, but soon found herself down 2-1 after a strong effort from Maria. Gauff leveled things off with a few strong games, and eventually took a 5-3 lead after winning a long game with several advantage tiebreakers. Maria took advantage of some unforced errors to make it 5-4 and get within one game of Gauff’s lead. Gauff then stayed creative, getting the advantage after a tricky drop shot to the inner corner.
At the set point, Gauff’s confidence seemingly wavered, and she lost the advantage after yet another double fault, her seventh of the set. A long rally at the break point was oddly interrupted by the electronic detection system, despite the ball being well inside the line, forcing Gauff and Maria to replay the point. Finally, Gauff, visibly frustrated by her performance so far, was able to take the first set after Maria hit the ball into the net.
Gauff came out much stronger in the second set, quickly capturing the first three games. Maria made her work for the fourth, but Gauff was eventually able to take the 4-0 lead. Gauff, having largely tired the 37-year-old Maria out, then took the next two games to win the match 6-4, 6-0.
Gauff also struggled with mistakes, making nine double faults and more than 20 unforced errors (mostly in the first set) to complicate what should have been an easy win. In the end, though, Gauff was able to take the win.
She was back on the practice court minutes later.
Djokovic had a similar issue in the next game at Arthur Ashe Stadium, facing a stiff test from fellow Serbian Laslo Djere in a 6-4, 6-4, 2-0 win.
Djere appeared on the verge of putting a scare into Djokovic for two hours straight, but kept coming up just short. Djokovic, who had trainers working on his torso at one point, saved three break points in the first set before getting his own break to steal the first set.
Djere went up a break in the second set, but Djokovic responded with two straight breaks to grab another set. Once he went up 2-0 in the third, Djere retired from the match, having undergone knee surgery earlier this year.
In other big games within the slate, Americans Emma Navarro and Madison Keys both earned wins in straight sets to advance to the third round. On the men’s side, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe will face off in an all-American third round matchup after both won in the second round.