Coco Gauff came through her second round match at the China Open, but she had some quibbles about the conditions in Beijing.
The World No. 3 dropped just four games against Kamilla Rakhimova as she rushed to a straight sets win at the tournament she won last year.
Gauff said the China Open felt like a ‘practice tournament’ ahead of her campaign and she played with freedom in the second round.
Despite coming through in fairly straightforward fashion, Gauff revealed her difficulties with the conditions in Beijing.
Coco Gauff calls out China Open balls as ‘really slow’
Gauff has won seven straight matches at the China Open following her success at last year’s event, but she’s not overly happy with the conditions.
Asked how she came through the longer rallies during her first round match in Beijing, Gauff revealed: “A little bit of luck I think. One of those games she hit like a let cord. That kind of helped me.
“And then just being solid. We were playing a physical match. I felt like she was getting a lot of balls back. Balls that I thought would be winners, I had to keep hitting it over and over.”
The 2025 Roland Garros champion turned her attention toward the balls and court pace and suggested that there was something slowing her down.
“The conditions, today was a little bit faster, but the balls are really slow, especially when they get heavier towards the next ball change,” she said. “It’s really slow. I was just trying to stay solid and make her run.”
Gauff will play Leylah Fernandez in the second round, a re-match of their Australian Open 2025 match which saw the American win in straight sets.
Coco Gauff has the perfect opportunity at the China Open
Gauff may have some issues with the playing conditions at the China Open, but the draw has opened up kindly for the World No. 3.
The American is in section eight of the tournament and the highest seed she will have to play before the quarter-finals is 15th seed Belinda Bencic.
Jelena Ostapenko and qualifiers Priscilla Hon and Katie Volynets are also in the American’s side of the draw.
Should Gauff reach the quarter-finals of the tournament, she will likely play Elena Rybakina or Ekaterina Alexandrova.
