With straight-set wins, Gauff and Pegula move on to Round 3 in Paris

It was Throwback Thursday for the American women at Roland Garros.

With No. 2 Coco Gauff and No. 3 Jessica Pegula, it’s the first time in 15 years that the United States has two of the Top 3 French Open seeds. The last time, as discerning tennis fans no doubt know, it was Venus and Serena Williams.

In fact, there were nine American women in action across the 16 second-round matches from the bottom half of the draw. With No. 7 Madison Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion, the U.S. had three Top 10s in play.

Gauff and Pegula both eased into the third round with straight-set wins. Pegula got things started on Court Philippe Chatrier, defeating fellow American Ann Li 6-3, 7-6 (3). Gauff followed up on Court Suzanne Lenglen with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Czech Republic qualifier Tereza Valentova.

Later, Keys was a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Katie Boulter. She’s now won all of her nine Grand Slam matches this year. On Saturday, Keys will play another American former Grand Slam winner. In a match two minutes shy of two hours, No. 31 Sofia Kenin edged Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (5), 6-4. 

For Pegula, it was a typically smooth, consistent performance. She broke Li’s serve three times, while saving six of seven break points against her.

“It was a really tough match today,” Pegula said afterward. “Ann has been playing some really good tennis this year and had a lot of close matches with good players. It was tricky with the wind. She was slicing a lot, kind of making me earn a lot of points.

“I felt like it was a pretty physical match, a lot of long points and long games. But happy I was able to kind of hold on to that second set there definitely.”

This was Pegula’s 30^th match-win of the year -- only World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (36) has won more. Pegula is 10-5 at Roland Garros, but nine of those wins have come against unseeded opponents. She’s 9-0 in those matches. 

Next up for the 31-year-old Pegula: unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, a three-set winner over No. 25 Magdalena Frech, in a third-round match on Saturday. Vondrousova, the 2023 Wimbledon champion, reached the Roland Garros final in 2019.

This was their first meeting at the WTA level, but Li won their only previous match seven years ago in an ITF semifinal in Lexington. Li, 24 and ranked No. 55, was looking to equal her best career result at a Grand Slam.

After spotting Li a 2-0 lead in the first set, Pegula went on to win six of the last seven games. The second set was a far different story.

There were still no breaks when Pegula served at 4-all, but the persistent Li forged two break opportunities. Pegula answered them both -- with a gorgeous running forehand down the line and a booming serve that led to another winner.

The tiebreak was textbook Pegula. She scored the first mini-break when a Li backhand sailed wide and consolidated it with some nice serving. A deep backhand that Li couldn’t pick up at net gave her the match.

The meeting of Gauff and Valentova was a collision of the 2018 and 2024 French Open junior champions. Not surprisingly, age and experience eventually won out over a player in her first WTA Tour-level main draw.

At 21, Gauff is three years older and used her speed to induce Valentova to try and end long rallies by overhitting. Gauff won the first set with three service breaks, the last coming on her fourth set point.

The second set featured an astounding 10 service breaks. Gauff managed to hold once -- and it was enough.

In the end, Valentova won only one of her nine service games.

Gauff has won 12 of her13 career meetings against younger opponents, losing to only Diana Shnaider in Toronto last season. She’s also 9-2 against qualifiers at the Grand Slams. Her 22 main-draw match-wins at Roland Garros are the most at any single tournament.

Gauff will play Marie Bouzkova, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Sonay Kartal, on Saturday.

Keys was dominant against the No. 38 player in the PIF WTA rankings, breaking Boulter’s serve five times, while getting broken only once herself. Keys doubled up Boulter, hitting 20 winners to 10.

At 30, Keys is the oldest woman to win nine consecutive Grand Slam matches since Angelique Kerber did it seven years ago. Keys will meet the winner of the later match between Sofia Kenin and Victoria Azarenka on Saturday.