Gauff cruises past Cocciaretto to French Open quarter-finals

PARIS : American world number three Coco Gauff was far too strong for Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto at the French Open on Sunday, sealing a 6-1 6-2 win to reach the quarter-finals.

The match began at a frenetic pace, with the 45th-ranked Cocciaretto winning only two points in the first four games on unforced errors by Gauff, who won the U.S. Open last year after losing the 2022 final in Paris.

Cocciaretto regained some confidence at the end of the first set with longer rallies and a few winning shots but Gauff kept the upper hand, losing only one game to her 23-year-old opponent.

Gauff, who landed only 56 per cent of her first serves, suffered a small slump early in the second set, losing her first service game and allowing the Italian to respond.

Cocciaretto managed to win one of her service games but that was not enough to beat Gauff who finished the match in exactly one hour.

In the quarter-final, Gauff, who is bidding to become the first American to win Roland Garros since Serena Williams in 2015, will face the winner of the match between Tunisia's Ons Jabeur and Dane Clara Tauson.

(This story has been corrected to say unforced errors, not double faults, in paragraph 2)