Newly crowned French Open Champion Coco Gouf was surprised when he returned to action on Thursday, losing to China’s qualifying king XINYU 6-3, 6-3 at the Berlin Open.
The second Golf, who won the second Grand Slam title at Roland Garros two weeks ago, accumulated 25 forced errors and seven double faults in the loss.
Golf had goodbye to the second round at the Grass Court Tournament, a warm-up at Wimbledon.
Ranked 49th, the king said he was satisfied with the first set, taking into account his opponent’s level.
“After winning the first set, “Okay, let’s take a moment to enjoy this. I played the French Open Championship and won the first set,” Wang said in an on-court interview. “No matter how the second and third went, I was like, ‘OK, let’s have a bit of fun.’
“I’m really happy with my playing today. I’ve served well and put a lot of pressure on my return, especially my second and third return.”
Gouf looked uncomfortable with the smooth grass and broke in the seventh game. The king clinched the set after Golf double-faulted in the deuce, then sank a drop shot into the net at the set point.
Gouf broke to advance 3-1 in the second set, but the King ran five games in a row for victory.
Alina Sabalenka played for the first time since losing to Gouf in the French Open Final, reaching the quarterfinals 6-2, 7-6 (6) to Rebekah Masalová, finishing the game suspended on Wednesday in slippery conditions.
Sabalenka was set up on Wednesday when play stopped after tournament officials said the court was slipping too much when humidity rose after sunset.
When the game resumed Thursday, the 27-year-old broke at the start of the second set, down 3-1 and 4-2. However, she broke with a fine volley to keep her cool and force a tiebreak.
Sabalenka wasted two match points before sealing the victory on the next opportunity when Masarova sank a midcourt forehand into the net. She will then face Kazakhstan’s Elena Ribakina.
2023 Wimbledon champion Marita Vondrousova took three sets, two hours and 20 minutes to break Diana Schneider’s resistance.
Vondrousova, who was 6-5 and 30-0 in the second set, advanced with a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 victory, facing two-time Wimbledon finalist Lucky Loser Ons Jabeur in the quarterfinals.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to the report.