Coco Gauff’s 2025 Canadian Open run got off to a winning start, but the opening match was far from straightforward.
Up against fellow American Danielle Collins in Montreal, Gauff had to dig deep early on.
Despite struggling with her serve throughout the match, she rallied from two points down in the third set to secure a hard-fought 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 victory, advancing to the third round.
Coco Gauff’s words on her relationship with Danielle Collins
Speaking after the match, Gauff spoke highly of Collins and gave a bit of background on how well they know each other.
“This is my first time playing Danielle [Collins], I know her very well.”
“She is obviously a tough competitor and great tennis player, great person. I got to know her really well at the United Cup, and she is always nice to me.
“It was a tough battle out there.”
Looking back on the match, Gauff pointed to one area of her game that let her down in Montreal.
“Making serves into the court was the toughest challenge,” she said.
“Maybe if I cut that in half, it would be a quicker match for me. I thought that I was playing well except for that part of my game, but I felt like off the ground, I was doing pretty well.
“Danielle is a great ball striker, and for me to break her as many times as I did, there were definitely some positives to take from today.”
Gauff hit 23 double faults during her second-round match, in what was a rough day on serve.
| Player | Aces | Double faults | 1st Serve % | Win % on 1st Serve | Win % on 2nd Serve | Break points |
| Coco Gauff | 3 | 23 | 53% | 63% | 57% | 9/16 |
| Danielle Collins | 2 | 13 | 55% | 59% | 45% | 9/16 |
She is confident she has more to offer in Canada, determined to avoid the issues that affected her in the previous round.
“Hopefully, I got my bad match of the tournament out of the way, and I can come back stronger in the next round.”
The American star hopes to perform better this Thursday, when she will face Veronika Kudermetova.
Coco Gauff and Danielle Collins’ United Cup recap
Gauff helped the US regain the 2025 United Cup, contributing to the team’s strong performance in Australia alongside names such as Taylor Fritz and Collins.
The Americans were drawn into Group A with Canada and Croatia. Gauff won all four of her matches during that stage, helping her side move into the quarterfinals without much trouble.
- Coco Gauff defeated Leylah Fernandez
- Coco Gauff/Taylor Fritz defeated Leylah Fernandez/Felix Auger-Aliassime
- Coco Gauff defeated Donna Vekic
- Coco Gauff/Taylor Fritz defeated Petra Marcinko/Ivan Dodig
She then continued that form by beating Zhang Shuai in the quarters and Karolina Muchova in the semis as Team USA reached another final.
In that final against Poland, Gauff delivered again by beating Iga Swiatek to put her team ahead early. Fritz later defeated Hubert Hurkacz to secure a 2-0 win and another United Cup title for the Americans.
While Collins didn’t play any singles matches during that tournament, she still drew attention for an eye-roll gesture directed at Swiatek during the final.
Whether both players will be picked again for Team USA remains to be seen. Either way, it’s hard to look past them as favourites once more.
The next edition of the tournament is set to start on Friday, January 2nd 2026.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
