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Gauff, a 20-year-old South Florida native,
needed just 77 minutes to prevail in her first match of the
tournament. The 32 seeded players all received first-round byes.
The reigning U.S. Open champion produced a 5-0 edge in aces,
saved all five break points on her serve and won 34 of her 39
first-serve points (87 percent).
Gauff is staying at her family's home in Delray Beach, Fla.,
this week, which can be both a good and bad thing. One of her
younger brothers interrupted her sleep earlier this week.
"I had to text him ... to, like, 'Stop screaming,'" Gauff said.
"He was playing a game and he said he was sorry. Other than
that, it's really nice and refreshing."
Gauff played one of just six matches that were completed Friday
as rain disrupted the schedule.
Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus downed Spain's Paula
Badosa 6-4, 6-3. Badosa managed only one break point on
Sabalenka's serve and couldn't convert.
Two Russian players advanced, as 14th-seeded Ekaterina
Alexandrova defeated Croatia's Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-4 and
21st-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova trounced the United States'
Shelby Rogers 6-2, 6-1.
No. 20 Emma Navarro of the United States topped Australia's
Storm Hunter 6-4, 6-3, and France's Oceane Dodin beat the
Netherlands' Arantxa Rus 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Among the matches that were postponed until Saturday were No. 1
Iga Swiatek of Poland vs. Camila Giorgi of Italy as well as No.
15 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine vs. Naomi Osaka of Japan.
--Field Level Media
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