French Open 2025: Coco Gauff emerges from a tough second set to return to Week 2 in Paris

PARIS AP Coco Gauff got off to a terrific start in the French Open s third round Saturday taking of the first points for a - lead after just minutes The rest of the opening set went smoothly too Things got much tougher from there and the U S Open champion was merely two points from dropping the second set before getting back in the right direction and defeating Marie Bouzkova - - to reach Week at Roland-Garros for the fifth consecutive year Gauff a -year-old from Florida was the runner-up in Paris in and is seeded No at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament this year Next up for her will be a matchup on Monday against No Ekaterina Alexandrova with the winner moving into the quarterfinals After needing just a half-hour to claim the first set Saturday Gauff wound up in a -minute struggle in the second That set included eight breaks of serve in a row as the sounds of popping fireworks drifted over to Court Philippe-Chatrier from the nearby soccer stadium belonging to Paris Saint-Germain whose fans were gathering to attend a watch party ahead of the Champions League final against Italy s Inter Milan in Munich Germany later Saturday night The key in the second was when Gauff trailed - -love with Bouzkova serving A total of four times Bouzkova needed to string together two consecutive points to force a third set But Gauff wouldn t allow it frequently stretching points with her terrific court coverage until she could find space to hit a winner On one particularly memorable exchange Gauff sprinted to barely reach a drop shot scrambled into position to block back a volley then leaped for an overhead smash By the end Gauff had more than twice as numerous winners as Bouzkova in the second set to and also helped herself by winning the point on of her trips to the net Gauff is one of five American women in the fourth round The others are No Jessica Pegula No Madison Keys No Amanda Anisimova and unseeded Hailey Baptiste There were three U S men still in the bracket heading into Sunday Keys who won the Australian Open in January saved three match points while down - in the final set and came back to beat Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin - - - Keys now plays the th-ranked Baptiste Anisimova meets No Aryna Sabalenka for a spot in the quarterfinals and Pegula last year s U S Open runner-up faces French wild-card entry Lois Boisson More AP tennis https apnews com hub tennis Source