Defending champion Coco Gauff overcomes sluggish start to brush aside Taylor Townsend

[p]On a baking ‌Court Philippe-Chatrier, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gauff-coco/f5BXmEH6/"]Gauff[/a] struggled to find her range early ‌on and was a point ⁠away ‌from slipping two breaks of ​serve behind against her compatriot.[/p][embed guid="829330c0-be39-4950-9fdb-edc8e71abab4" url="https://x.com/rolandgarros/status/2059285983250596331" social-type="twitter" /][p]But the fourth seed ​quickly recovered her poise to take control and move ⁠safely through ​to the second round.[/p][p]Gauff double-faulted on set point at 5-3 in the opener ‌but broke the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/townsend-taylor/Y9jUuHka/"]Townsend[/a] serve in the next game to move ahead.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/gauff-c-f5BXmEH6/townsend-t-Y9jUuHka/?mid=2atB9uEE"]After that it was one-way traffic as she raced to victory.[/a][/p][embed guid="e5c04c1e-1206-43a6-aa93-beb785e10a88" url="https://x.com/rolandgarros/status/2059287414753911198" social-type="twitter" /][p]"[b]I have so many great memories on this court[/b]," Gauff, ‌who beat [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sabalenka-aryna/vyhksgUB/"]Aryna Sabalenka[/a] in ​the final last year, ‌said.[/p][p]"[b]I was a little nervous going out today, that showed a bit, but I was able to ⁠find ⁠my calm[/b]."[/p]