Playing under the roof on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, No.3 seed Coco Gauff edged former Roland Garros semifinalist Tamara Zidansek 6-3, 6-4 to move through to the third round in Paris for the fourth straight year.
The American needed 1 hour and 31 minutes to edge the Slovenian, once ranked World No.22 but a qualifier in Paris this year, and bounced back to ease to victory after trailing 3-1 in the first set. Gauff, who admitted to wanted to shore up her serve ahead of the clay-court major, double faulted twice in the opening game of the match en route to losing serve. But those were her only double faults of the first set.
The World No.3 also trailed 2-1 in the first set after Zidansek broke back and held after losing the opening game -- and also saw a 4-2 lead evaporate to 4-4. But a break to 15, her third of the match, and a hold from 15-30 down, helped put Gauff safely into the last 32.
"It was really slow [conditions] today, so I felt like my balls weren't bouncing as much as normal. I think it's just with the humidity from all the rain ... which I think caters to her game a little bit more," Gauff said afterwards.
"I think in that 4-2 game, I should've broken, I missed a few balls close, but I was trying to be aggressive and I was just trying to step in, especially on her second serve.
Coco gets the W ✅#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/3EtyXt7mLS
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 29, 2024
"I definitely didn't think it was as strong as my first round. I felt like I could have, especially in the second set, probably won it a little bit sooner, maybe 6-3, 6-2. But with the matches, I mean, there's always things you can do better, and I try not to overanalyze everything."
For a spot in the fourth round, Gauff will face either No.30 seed and Australian Open semifinalist Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, or China's Wang Yafan.