Sawt Falasteen - Gauff shrugs off forgotten racquets to reach French Open second round

The number two seed arrived on Court Philippe-Chatrier for her match against Australia's Olivia Gadecki only to realise when she opened her bag she had left her equipment in the locker room.

"They were supposed to be in my bag," Gauff told the chair umpire.

A ball boy brought the racquets and Gauff brushed aside 91st-ranked Gadecki 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 11 minutes.

"I'm blaming it on my coach," she joked.

"Honestly, as long as I've been on tour, my coach has always put the racquets in the bag before the match because he's very superstitious."

However, she said the oversight helped ease the tension before her opening match at the second Grand Slam of the year.

"Usually I'm very nervous and I was a little bit today but I think I was the least nervous heading into the first round of a Grand Slam and then the whole racquet situation took a load off too," he said.

"After that, maybe it probably relaxed me going into the match, because it was just such a funny thing.

"So I'm just happy to get through today and I will remember my racquets for next time."

The 21-year-old Gauff next meets Czech qualifier Tereza Valentova who beat French wildcard Chloe Paquet in three sets in windy conditions in the French capital.

"It was really windy. I knew it wasn't going to be a clean match with the wind but overall I'm really happy with the way I played," said Gauff who hit seven double faults.

"It was two different matches depending on what side of the court you are on."

Gauff played her first Grand Slam final at senior level against Iga Swiatek at the 2022 French Open, losing in straight sets.

A year after that, she won the US Open title.

The American is coming off back-to-back final defeats in both Roland Garros warm-up tournaments in Madrid and Rome, losing to world number one Aryna Sabalenka and Italy's Jasmine Paolini respectively.

N.Shalabi--SF-PST