MONTREAL — Coco Gough won the competition Tuesday night, but some old serving struggles have come back with her.
Gouf had to overcome 23 double faults in the second round of the National Bank Open to win for the first time since the French Open Final, the French Open Final.
Gough hadn’t played since losing in the first round at Wimbledon, but it appeared to have made changes to her serving grip during her time. She struggled with it during the match, slamming a rather long serve, with the other serves easily attacked by the soft and powerful Collins.
“It was an annoying match for me,” Gouf said. “I feel like I’m practicing a lot, and I don’t think I’ve transferred it today, but hopefully a bad match in the tournament doesn’t get in the way and I can go strong back in the next round.”
The bulky serve ended her US open title defense last year when she committed 19 double faults with a four-round loss to Emma Navarro. Tuesday’s serve was even more volatile, but Gouf hit something good to finish the game with the ace.
She is the top seed in Montreal as Top Rank Alina Sabalenka retreated. Gov said he faced Veronica Kudermetova in the third round and had plenty left after the match that lasted two hours and 55 minutes.
“With the exception of a few games, I felt like I was playing well,” Gauff said. “But I felt like I was off the ground.