Wasting no time: Gauff advances in 66 minutes in Round 1 of Open
Defending champion Coco Gauff wasted no time launching her U.S. Open title defense, taking down first-round opponent Varvara Gracheva of France 6-2, 6-0 in 66 minutes on Monday in New York.
Gauff claimed her first Grand Slam title last year at Arthur Ashe Stadium and entered this year’s tournament looking for recapture that form after a disappointing summer.
The third seed in this week’s main draw, Gauff cruised against Gracheva, who is ranked 66th in the world. Gauff finished with a 10-0 edge in aces, went 9-for-9 saving break points and finished with a 16-5 advantage in total winners.
Gauff will face Tatjana Maria of Germany in the second round. Maria was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Solana Sierra of Argentina.
On a packed first day of main-draw action in New York, it did not take long for the first top-10 seed to fall. Greece’s Maria Sakkari, the ninth seed, dropped her first set 6-2 to China’s Yafan Wang before retiring due to an undisclosed injury.
Wang’s next opponent will be Diane Parry of France, who took down China’s Xiyu Wang 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5).
ETC. College football:
Bucknell University has said it is investigating the death of a freshman football player who died July 12, two days after collapsing at his first workout with the team, ESPN reported. Doctors told the parents of 18-year-old Calvin "C.J." Dickey Jr. that he collapsed from sickle cell-related rhabdomyolysis, a medical condition that experts say is prevented and even reversed by simply stopping exercise, ESPN wrote.
Dickey's parents said their son had tested positive earlier for sickle cell trait as part of NCAArequired testing. The parents said the team's head trainer knew about the results of the test before Dickey arrived at Bucknell.
PGA Tour: After entering the final day of the BMW Championship with a one-shot lead, Keegan Bradley played par golf Sunday (72-276) to finish 12 under par for the tournament — one stroke better than Sam Burns, Ludvig Aberg and Adam Scott. The last man to qualify for the tournament at 50th on the FedExCup Playoffs rankings, Bradley rocketed up to
No. 4 after the win in Castle Rock, Colo.
Next up for the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain: A chance to win the whole thing at this weekend’s Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Bradley, 38, birdied the opening hole Sunday, ripped off 13 straight pars after that, then worked around bogeys on the 15th and 18th with a birdie on the 17th to close out his seventh career victory.
PGA Tour Champions:
Stewart Cink shot a 6-under-par 66 on Sunday and ran away with the Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Mich., for his first win on the Champions circuit. Cink, 51, played the final 36 holes without a bogey. After starting the day with a three-shot lead, Cink finished at 17-under 199, four strokes ahead of K.J. Choi (finalround 67) and five ahead of Mike Weir (64).