Coco Gauff eases into third round of Wimbledon women's draw

WIMBLEDON, England -- Coco Gauff likes No. 1 Court at Wimbledon.

It's where she beat Venus Williams back in 2019 when Gauff made her Wimbledon debut at age 15.

On Wednesday, Gauff beat qualifier Anca Todoni 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the third round at the All England Club.

"This is the court where I first started here at Wimbledon. Court 1 is always a special place for me to play on," the 20-year-old Gauff said in her on-court interview.

The victory also allows Gauff, the No. 2 seed, to move another step away from last year's first-round exit.

"Overall, I just learned about life a lot," the US Open champion said when asked about putting that three-set loss to Sofia Kenin behind her. "I just realized that, yes, what I do I'm very passionate about, but it's not ever that serious and sometimes the world can make you feel like there's so much pressure, there's so much expectation. At the end of the [day], it's a game. It's sport."

She added later: "I tend to be ultracritical on myself. I'm like, 'Okay, let me take a step back, be patient, and enjoy the ride.'"

Gauff slipped and fell twice on the slick court and muttered to herself during the 1 hour, 6 minute match against an opponent ranked 140 places below her. She also had 16 unforced errors in the short match and managed to land only 43% of her first serves.

"I do think I could have played cleaner at some points but overall I'm happy to have got through to the third round," Gauff said.

"That's tennis," she added later. "You're always going to miss some shots that you normally would make. I am trying to focus on straight sets and winning cleaner."

Todoni, the 19-year-old Romanian who was making her Grand Slam debut, hit 23 unforced errors and could not find her range against the fleet-footed American, who wrapped up the match with a drop shot that Todoni could only send wide.

Five years ago, Gauff beat Williams -- a five-time Wimbledon champion -- 6-4, 6-4 in the first round and eventually reached the last 16, all on her Grand Slam debut.

The draw has opened up for Gauff after the first-day withdrawals of Aryna Sabalenka , the Australian Open champion, and former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka .

Gauff will next play British qualifier Sonay Kartel , who won 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 against France's Clara Burel .

"It's going to be a tough match," Kartal said on court after the match. "It's going to be a fun match, and I hope I can do the British crowd proud."

Said Gauff: "It will be tough to face a Brit obviously, especially on grass. I think that they always do really well, but especially in this environment."

In other results, No. 11 Danielle Collins completed her first-round match -- a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Clara Tauson . It had been suspended Tuesday night at 4-4 in the second set.

No. 20 Beatriz Haddad Maia advanced to the third round by beating Magdalena Frech 7-5, 6-3.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.