French Open: Coco Gauff cruises in first round with quick win over Taylor Townsend

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Coco Gauff’s defense of her 2025 French Open win got off to a tremendous start Tuesday. Gauff cruised to a first-round win over fellow American Taylor Townsend, winning the match in straight sets (6-4, 6-0).

While Gauff entered the match as the heavy favorite, it was not a guarantee she would come out the victor. Gauff lost her only other meeting with Townsend, which came back in 2019.

But Gauff has come a long way since then, and showed as much with a quick win over Townsend on Tuesday.

From a numbers perspective, it wasn’t a dominant win for Gauff, who registered just one ace and five double faults in the match. When she was able to get her serve in, however, Gauff managed to win the point at a high clip.

Townsend, meanwhile, struggled with her serve, only converting 53 percent of her first-serve attempts. In those situations, Townsend eased up to make sure she got the ball in play. While it limited her double faults, it also led to Townsend winning a lower percentage of her serves, as she wasn’t able to challenge Gauff enough.

Gauff turned in a similarly-strong performance in the first round last year, when she dispatched Olivia Gadecki 6-2, 6-2. Gauff didn’t drop a single set in the 2025 French Open until the quarterfinals, where Madison Keys finally forced Gauff to play a three-set match. Aryna Sabalenka was the only other player to take a set from Gauff at least year’s French Open.

With Tuesday’s win, Gauff advanced to the second round of the 2026 French Open, where she will take on Mayar Sherif. The two have squared off just one other time, with Gauff picking up the victory in their only match.

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