Coco Gauff has continued her bid for a first French Open title after beating Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight sets.
Gauff is one of the French Open favourites this year, with the American reaching back-to-back finals in Madrid and Rome coming into the clay court major.
It has been an impressive French Open tournament so far for Gauff, who has been part of an American wave of success in Paris this year.
After winning the first set comfortably against Alexandrova, things got a bit tighter in the second set and Gauff needed to use her physical attributes to help spur her on to the victory.
Chris Evert comments on Coco Gauff’s serving against Ekaterina Alexandrova
Gauff beat the in-form Alexandrova, 6-0 7-5, in 83 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
One of the big talking points around Gauff is often her serve, which has been a vulnerability in recent months.
Gauff hit four double faults in her match against Alexandrova, but seven-time French Open champion Chris Evert suggested on TNT Sports commentary that her compatriot’s serve was winning more points than it was losing.
However, Evert insisted that if Gauff was to start hitting double-digit double faults then she may have concerns.
“Double faults don’t mean much though,” said Evert. “Look she double faulted what four times, but think of all the points she gets on her first serve when she gets it in.
“A lot today, and serve plus one, she’s winning a lot of points on her serve. Number four doesn’t bother me, if she was getting double digits that would bother me.”
Gauff has previously hit more than 10 double faults in one match, but that has not been the case for her four straight set wins at the French Open so far this year.
The 2023 US Open champion has gradually reduced her double faults round by round in Paris, and has also increased her number of aces.
Gauff won 65% of her points on first serve against Alexandrova, and was broken just once in the second set.
| Coco Gauff’s Serve | First Round | Second Round | Third Round | Fourth Round |
| Aces | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Double Faults | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
Chris Evert rates Coco Gauff’s performance compared to her other French Open matches this year
Moving away from just the serve, Evert was impressed by the performances of both Gauff and Alexandrova.
Gauff has won all of her first four matches at this year’s French Open in straight sets, but Evert claimed that this was her best performance yet.
“Yeah she was tested, I mean every player wants to be tested as long as they don’t lose,” Evert said about Gauff. “But you know I think Alexandrova finally found her game and lifted the level of it and was not intimidated by playing Coco, and was matching her power.
“And it really proved to be a good quality second set, so good all the way around, good for Alexandrova knowing that she’s right there with the top players and good for Coco, I think that’s the best match she has played so far this tournament.”
Gauff now moves on to her fifth consecutive French Open quarter-final at just 21 years old.
This is where she will play a compatriot, with Gauff awaiting either Madison Keys or Hailey Baptiste in the last-eight.
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