MONTREAL — Coco Gauff made a winning return to competition on Tuesday night, even though some old serving woes came back with her.
Gauff had to overcome 23 double-faults to win for the first time since the French Open final, outlasting fellow American Danielle Collins 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (2) in the second round of the National Bank Open.
Gauff hadn’t played since losing in the first round at Wimbledon and appeared to have made a change to her serving grip during her time away. She struggled with it during the match, hitting some serves that were well long and others that were soft and easily pounced on by the powerful Collins.
“It was a frustrating match for me,” Gauff said. “I felt like I was practicing well and then I don’t think I transferred it today, but hopefully I got my bad match of the tournament out of the way and I could come back stronger the next round.”
A balky serve ended her U.S. Open title defense last year, when she committed 19 double-faults in a fourth-round loss to Emma Navarro. The serve was even more erratic Tuesday, though Gauff did hit a good one to end the match with an ace.
She is the top seed in Montreal due to the withdrawal of top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, the player Gauff beat to win the French Open in June. Gauff will face Veronika Kudermetova in the third round and said she had plenty left after the match that lasted 2 hours, 55 minutes, adding she could possibly cut that in half if she cleaned up her serve.
“I felt that I was playing well except that part of my game,” Gauff said. “But I felt like off the ground I was playing pretty well.”
