MELBOURNE, Australia -- Third-seeded Coco Gauff had some familiar struggles on serve but still had enough class and power to defeat Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 6-3 on Monday in a first-round match at the Australian Open.
Gauff has won two Grand Slam titles but has never gone past the semifinals at Melbourne Park. She was knocked out in the quarterfinals last year.
The American has struggled with double faults, posting 431 in 2025 on the WTA Tour, by far the most of any player. No one else had more than 300. Gauff had six in the first set against Rakhimova and only one in the second set.
The 21-year-old Gauff has been reworking her serve for the past several months, and she practiced some more during a comfort break in the match at Rod Laver Arena with Rakhimova, 24.
Gauff will face left-handed Olga Danilovic in the second round. Danilovic, also 24, defeated 45-year-old Venus Williams on Sunday in a first-round match, which erased the possibility of the two Americans facing off.
"There's not many [left-handed players] on Tour, but Olga's a great player. She's beat some top players, so it's going to be a tough match," Gauff said.
Aryna Sabalenka is seeded No. 1 in Australia, followed by Iga Swiatek.
Kenin, the No. 27 seed, was a shock winner here in 2020. But she has since struggled at Melbourne Park, losing in the first round for the fifth consecutive time.
Stearns fired 15 aces and had just one double fault as she cruised through to the second round in 1 hour, 14 minutes. She will play Petra Marcinko of Croatia next.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.