In first outing with new coach, Coco Gauff wins opening match…see more in Beijing

The American, seeded No. 4, defeated France’s Clara Burel 7-5, 6-3 in the second round.

Coco Gauff’s first match with new coach Matt Daly by her side was a winning one: a 7-5, 6-3 victory over France’s Clara Burel in the second round of the China Open.

Gauff saved a set point in the opening set against world No. 56 Burel, who pushed the American to a third-set tiebreak at Indian Wells earlier this year, before easing to the straight-sets victory to close out Friday’s slate of play at the WTA 1000 event. She also won the match’s last three games.

Gauff, who told reporters on the eve of her opening match that she was hoping to shore up her serve with Daly’s guidance, started the match ominously with the first of six double faults she struck in the victory, dropping serve to 30. But she broke back immediately, after Burel led 40-0, in a first set that saw seven combined breaks of serve.

Burel, who defeated Sloane Stephens in the first round of the US Open last month after losing the first nine games of the match, failed to serve out the opening set at 5-4, missing a backhand wide of the sideline despite being in a winning position in the points.

I

n other results, Gauff’s fellow American, No. 2 seed Jessica Pegula, also beat a Frenchwoman in second-round action in her first match since finishing runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at the US Open. Pegula came from 3-1 down in the second set to defeat Diane Parry 6-1, 7-6(4).

Pegula will next look to turn around an 0-2 head-to-head against No. 32 seed Veronika Kudermetova next as she seeks a Round of 16 berth in Beijing for the first time.

But Emma Navarro, who ended Gauff’s title defense in the fourth round in New York, was upset 6-4, 6-2 by China’s Zhang Shuai, who, prior to a win in the first round, had lost 24 straight matches. Navarro, the No. 6 seed, was playing her first match as a Top 10 player.

Elsewhere, 2019 Beijing champion Naomi Osaka improved to 2-0 under her own new coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over No. 21 seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. It was a milestone for the four-time Grand Slam champion in her maternity comeback: She had lost her last 22 matches after dropping the first set.

Gauff’s next opponent will be No. 26 seed Katie Boulter of Great Britain, who was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Taylor Townsend. Also through Friday were No. 12 seed Diana Shnaider, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over 2020 Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin; No. 10 seed Anna Kalinskaya, who battled to a 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(5) win over qualifier Hailey Baptiste in just short of three hours; and No. 15 seed Paula Badosa, who made a winning main-draw debut at the tournament with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova.