GAUFF ADVANCES AS MEDVEDEV CRASHES OUT

PARIS, May 26: Defending champion Coco Gauff began her French Open campaign in commanding fashion with a straight-sets victory over fellow American Taylor Townsend to storm into the second round at Roland Garros on Tuesday.

point opportunity and went on to dominate the remainder of the contest. The defending champion won 11 of the final 12 games, completely over-powering Townsend with her consistency and baseline control, especially in a one-sided second set where her opponent struggled to keep pace. Gauff will next face Egypt’s Mayar Sherif as she continues her bid to retain the French Open title.

The world No. 4 recovered from an early setback to register a 6-4, 6-0 win in just one hour and 20 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier, maintaining her perfect re-cord of reaching the second round in all seven of her French Open appearances.

Townsend made an ag-gressive start and broke Gauff in the opening game, threat-ening to take firm control of the first set. However, Gauff quickly regained momentum after surviving another break

In the men’s draw, Daniil Medvedev suffered yet an-other disappointing early exit at Roland Garros after losing to Australian wildcard Adam Walton in a dramatic five-set battle.

Walton defeated the for-mer US Open champion 6-2, 1-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 to secure the biggest win of his career and his first victory over a top-10 player. (IANS)

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(IANS)