Coco Gauff loses in beautiful upset in first match since French Open title

BERLIN — Newly topped French Open champion Coco Gauff was surprised on her return to motion Thursday, shedding to Chinese language qualifier Wang Xinyu 6-3, 6-3 on the Berlin Open.

The second-ranked Gauff, who received at Roland-Garros lower than two weeks in the past for her second Grand Slam title, amassed 25 unforced errors and 7 double faults in her loss to Wang.

Gauff had a bye to the second spherical on the grass-court event, a warmup for Wimbledon.

Wang, ranked No. 49, mentioned she would have been happy simply with the primary set, contemplating the extent of her 21-year-old opponent.

“After I received the primary set, I simply advised myself ‘OK let’s take a minute and revel in this, I am taking part in the French Open champion, and I received the primary set,'” she mentioned in her on-court interview.

“Irrespective of how the second and third go, I used to be like, ‘OK let’s simply get pleasure from it for a second,'” mentioned Wang, who will face Paula Badosa within the quarterfinals. “I am actually proud of how I performed right now. I used to be serving good and placing quite a lot of strain on the return, particularly second-serve return.”

High-ranked Aryna Sabalenka completed off Rebeka Masarova 6-2, 7-6 (6) in a match that was suspended Wednesday after one set due to a slippery courtroom.

Sabalenka had misplaced to Gauff on the French Open last and later apologized to the American for making “unprofessional” feedback after the Paris title match.

Sabalenka will meet 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina within the quarterfinals.