Is Coco Gauff finally getting back on track to repeat her 2019 success?

Coco Gauff got back in the Grand Slam winners circle after taking out Joanna Konta 6-3, 6-3. Is this finally the time for her to break into a second week?

After Coco Gauff achieved what most players could only dream of at her age last year, many expected her to be the next big thing in women’s tennis. Of course, the expectations of her rise to a top-twenty level player were of course too much. With only two Round of 16 appearances in Grand Slams, she’s put in the spotlight wherever she goes just as much as the WTA’s top stars.

Prior to the season shutdown, Gauff looked to be on her way up and looked poised to break through into a major quarterfinal for the first time after taking out Naomi Osaka in the 3rd Round and forcing Sofia Kenin to three sets in the fourth. She reached a career-high ranking of 49 and looked well on the rise going into the clay swing.

Once the season was suspended, however, momentum was ground to a standstill. No amount of hours at the gym or on the practice courts can regain that, especially for someone like Gauff. She has the physical and mental tools to keep up with anyone; all she needs is match experience. She played well in her return at the Top Seed Open, taking out Aryana Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur before losing in the semifinals.

In her last four matches leading up to Roland Garros, though, she’s gone just 1-3 in her last four matches (her only win coming in Rome before losing to Garbine Murgaruza). She’s put up a fight in her losses (outside of a 6-1, 6-3 drubbing at the Western & Southern Open) but the 16-year-old phenom hasn’t looked anywhere close to how she’d been performing before the season shut down.

She got off to an extremely fast start and went up 3-0 in the first set. Her opponent, 9th-seeded Johanna Konta, hasn’t been playing all that well since the restart and hasn’t been at her best since her stellar 2019 campaign post-Australia. Gauff faced 5 break points throughout the first set, including two in a gargantuan seven-deuce game which saw her need six set points before finally taking it 6-3.

It wasn’t a pretty first set for Gauff whatsoever; she had seven double faults and won just 38% of her second serve points (8-of-21). She was effective at taking advantage of Konta on the 2nd serve return and was able to win 7-of-16 points in this category.

The second set was textbook WTA Tennis: 6 breaks of serve and 13 combined break points faced by the two players. Gauff was subpar on her serve in the second set, as well. She served only 35% on her first serve and had another 5 double faults. With only 5-of-13 points won on her second serve, she was clearly being outplayed in that regard. She once again stepped up on the return and was able to win 12 of 20 points on Konta’s second serve. She capitalized on 4-of-11 break points and was able to break through to take the second set 6-3 to win the match.

Gauff wasn’t perfect. That was obvious, but her strength on the return finally came back after her struggles took that away from her since the season return in August. This was a huge confidence booster for the young star looking to return into the later rounds of a Grand Slam.

She’s on a collision course with Maria Sakkari in the third round, who dealt Gauff her most demoralizing loss of the restart in “Cincinnati” and will face qualifier Martina Trevisan (World #159) in Round 2.