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Coco Gauff’s Olympic dream continues. The No. 2 women’s tennis player in the world is moving on to Round 3 after defeating Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle 6-1, 6-1.
The score makes it look like it was easy for Gauff to defeat Carle, ranked No. 85 in the world, but it was a battle. To nail down the win, Gauff had to work harder than she did on Sunday against Ajla Tomljanovic. It took Gauff just 57 minutes to defeat Tomljanovic in straight sets. Against Carle, the first set alone took 46 minutes even though Carle only won one game. But Carle had the power to seriously challenge Gauff. The rallies were longer, stretching out the games.
Carle gave Gauff a legitimate fight, even if the score doesn’t show it. Gauff’s backhand was working well for her, and she was fearless at the net. Even when Carle kept pushing back, Gauff never lost her head, staying smooth and confident the entire time. At age 20, she plays like a seasoned veteran, which she essentially is: Gauff has spent six years on the women’s tour, making her pro debut at age 14.
It was a little odd, however, that NBC didn’t think it was necessary to assign any commentators to this broadcast. Gauff isn’t just the No. 2 player in the world, she’s also the highest-ranked American tennis player of any gender at the Olympics. While there are other Americans in the top 10 for both women and men, Gauff represents the best chance Team USA has to win any kind of medal in tennis. (Gauff and her doubles partner, No. 6-ranked Jessica Pegula, won the 2024 French Open last month and are poised to dominate the women’s doubles competition.)
Commentator or not, Gauff will play Croatia’s Donna Vekic, who made her first Grand Slam final earlier this month at Wimbledon, in Round 3.