Eighteen months ago, Coco Gauff was bundled out of Wimbledon in the first round by fellow American Sofia Kenin -- the second time she'd lost to her compatriot at a Grand Slam tournament in her career.

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Much has changed since then, and on Monday at the Australian Open, Gauff channeled some of her favorite Marvel superheroes to deny Kenin a major hat trick. Clad in a new custom kit by her apparel sponsor, New Balance, No.3 seed Gauff eased to a 6-3, 6-3 win over her elder compatriot, the 2020 Melbourne champion, in her first match of the tournament inside Rod Laver Arena, despite struggles on serve under the midday Melbourne sun.

"It was a tough match for me today. I knew going in it was going to be difficult, but I'm happy with how I played," Gauff said in her post-match on-court interview with Laura Robson. "I maybe could've served some second serves better ... and I'm just happy I was able to manage today."

Gauff showed determination fit for Captain Marvel herself throughout 80 minutes on court. She overcame a patchy start, and a total of 32 unforced errors and nine double faults, to secure her 11th first-round win at a major in the last 12 Slams. 

She later explained to Robson that she also overcame adversity in the locker room before coming on court.

"This outfit, I'm a huge Marvel fan, and a lot of the female superheroes have cool cutouts on their outfits, so that's what I wanted to do," Gauff explained. "It is a bodysuit, so I have to put the bottom part on first and pull it over my head, so it's kind of struggle. If you can't hold your bladder, it's also not a good idea, but you have to sacrifice for fashion!"

On her way to leading Team USA to the United Cup trophy earlier this month, Gauff won all five of her singles matches without losing a set. That trend continued against Kenin, though the first set hung in the balance for the much of a quarter of an hour.

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The first three games extended to deuce as Gauff came out of the gates struggling for service rhythm. Though Gauff was the first to break, her first two service games were battles, and after Kenin failed to convert a break point to start the match, she didn't miss her third opportunity in the next game. Gauff struck six of her nine double faults for the match in the first set, but balanced out the statistic with a dozen aces -- and a second break of Kenin's serve for 4-2 in the first set gave her a lead she hardly relinquished.

She also doubled Kenin's total of winners, 28 to 14, and saved five of the six break points she faced. Two of those came in the eighth game of the second set, as she escaped a 15-40 deficit to deny Kenin an opportunity to claw back into the match.

Gauff advances to a second-round match against Great Britain's Jodie Burrage, who was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over France's Leolia Jeajean in other early action on Monday. Gauff is 1-0 against the Brit all-time, dropping just two games on grass at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne two summers ago.