Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Cleaning up on clay, Coco Gauff arrived in Paris empowered by surging to successive finals in Madrid and Rome.
Today, Gauff launched her Roland Garros quest committing a major unforced error before striking a shot.
The second-seeded wore her game face, but forgot her Head. Gauff opened her racquet bag surprised to see she forgot to pack her Head racquets.
Momentarily unarmed, Gauff spent this match disarming Olivia Gadecki 6-2, 6-2 to improve to 6-0 in French Open first-round matches.
Credit the ball boy for a stick save—he retrieved six racquets and ran them out to Gauff, who proceeded to run Roland Garros main-draw debutant Gadecki out of the draw in 71 minutes.
“Honestly I thought they put the racquets in the bag and my side bag has drinks,” Gauff told TNT’s Sloane Stephens afterward. “When I got out on court, I opened the first one, I was like okay no racquets. I went on court with no racquets, usually JC [coach Jean Christophe Faurel] packs them.”
It didn’t take Gauff long to unpack the pain on Gadecki, playing her sixth Slam main draw.
"Well, the most important thing is to play with a racquet," Gauff said. "So I was getting through the first step.
"After that, maybe it probably relaxed me going into the match, because it was just such a funny thing. Yeah, so I'm just happy to get through today and I will remember my racquets for next time."
The reigning WTA Finals champion exploited her opponent’s double fault to go up a double break, 3-0, just 14 minutes into the match. Gadecki struggled to find net clearance as Gauff drew a netted forehand to break again for 5-2.
Fending off a pair of break points, Gauff converted her second set point when Gadecki netted a slice to seize a one-set lead after 38 minutes.
“It felt super slow, honestly and windy, so I knew today wasn’t going to be pretty tennis,” Gauff said. “I just felt on the far end of the court it was hard to get the ball deep.”
Riding an assertive return game, Gauff destroyed the Gadecki second serve winning 18 of 21 points played on the Aussie’s second delivery and converting six of eight break points.
Gauff broke twice in a row to start the second set as Gadecki double-faulted off the tape to all into a 2-6, 0-3 hole.
Growing in confidence, Gauff served out a 71-minute win at 15.
To be sure, it wasn’t an immaculate performance. Gauff clanked seven double faults, didn’t always go after her first serve (her first-serve average speed was 101 mph) and scattered 22 errors against 15 winners, including missing a couple of forehands down the line that nearly missed the doubles alley.
Still, the good news for Gauff is she didn’t scratch the surface of her best tennis yet still cruised comfortably raising her Roland Garros record to 22-5—and looks poised for a deep run in a favorable bottom half of the draw.
And she didn’t forget her racquets departing Court Philippe Chatrier.
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The Delray Beach-born baseliner carries a 12-3 clay-court record in 2025 into the second round where she will play either 119th-ranked French wild card Chloe Paquet or 172nd-ranked Czechia qualifier Tereza Valentova.
Chasing world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka for the top spot, Gauff said consistency will be a key for her in Paris.
"I mean, to be No. 1 you have to win a lot. Aryna has been winning a lot," Gauff said. "In the years that Iga was mainly the No. 1, she was winning a lot. I think just consistency on tour.
"And each year I think you learn how to manage that consistency. It's not easy when you're winning. It may look like that but it's not. We are winning matches and playing more matches and you have to learn how to manage the year.
"I think, you know, both of them probably managed the year pretty well. I think for me to reach that point, obviously there is games that I have, parts of my games that I have to change. Also I think it comes with experience and learning how to manage the year."