Australian Open: Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula AND Danielle Collins all win as Americans succeed

Americans Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Frances Tiafoe and Danielle Collins reached the second round in opposite ways at the Australian Open on Monday.

Third-seeded Pegula defeated Jaqueline Cristian of Romania 6-0, 6-1, while seventh-seeded Gauff overcame a wobble in the second set to defeat Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 6-4.

Collins, second last year behind Ash Barty and seeded at No. 13, struggled with a left knee injury while beating Anna Kalinskaya 7-5 5-7 6-4 while Frances Tiafoe – the second-best US man – Daniel defeated Altmaier in four sets.

Coco Gauff overcame a slight wobble in the second set to beat Katerina Siniakova in Australia

Gauff has now set up a delicious second-round draw against Britain’s Emma Raducanu

Frances Tiafoe, in a VERY bold outfit, beat Daniel Altmaier to secure his place in round two

The flamboyant American dropped a set but recovered to secure the win

Pegula and Gauff could meet in the semifinals, while Collins could play No.1 Iga Swiatek in the fourth round.

A quarter-finalist in Melbourne for each of the past two years, Pegula took just 59 minutes to get past Cristian in 161st place, who was competing in her third Grand Slam event.

“Today was just one of those days when everything worked,” said the American, who will face either Czech qualifier Brenda Fruhvirtova or Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round.

“It always feels good when you win a match like this. I think when those days come you just take it and don’t complain and don’t criticize. You just move on to the next one.”

Tiafoe, meanwhile, held a two-set lead before losing a tiebreak to Germany’s Altmaier in his men’s singles first round match.

The match threatened to turn in his opponent’s favor in another tiebreak in the fourth, but he fought through to win it 8-6 and seal the match. In the second round he meets the Chinese qualifier Juncheng Shang.

Jessica Pegula, daughter of the Buffalo Bills owners, also made it in Melbourne

Danielle Collins continued a brilliant day for the Americans in women’s singles

Gauff, who reached her maiden Grand Slam singles final at the French Open last year, was given the honor of opening proceedings at the Rod Laver Arena, dominating Siniakova in the first set.

The Czech led 4-2 in the second set but Gauff bounced back and secured the win with her seventh match point.

“I didn’t expect to open the tournament with Rod Laver,” Gauff said. “I am very honored that the tournament chose me and Katerina. I’m very happy with myself. Katerina is a fighter, I knew she would fight for every point. I just stayed mentally strong.’

Collins managed to prevail in three sets despite sustaining a left knee injury

Gauff now plays former US Open champion Emma Raducanu after the Britain player shrugged off a pesky left ankle problem to beat Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch 6-3, 6-2.

Collins required a medical timeout early in the first set of her match with Kalinskaya with a left knee problem but survived to win in just over three hours.

Another former US Open champion, Bianca Andreescu, reached the second round but Amanda Anisimova, who was seeded at No. 28, was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Marta Kostyuk.