Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek used their first-round victories at the Australian Open to send messages of support to California in the wake of the devastating wildfires.
American Gauff wrote, ‘Stay strong, LA. Swiatek wrote ‘Sending my love to Malibu and LA’ on the camera lens following her 6-3, 6-3 victory over Sofia Kenin.
Massive amounts of damage have already been caused in Los Angeles, and lives have been lost, with the possibility of more to come.
From @CocoGauff to LA 💙#AusOpen • #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/4nXRtlqKUP
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 13, 2025
Gauff is the tournament’s leading American hope, and her win over compatriot and former Australian Open champion Kenin extended her winning streak to ten, including titles at the WTA Finals and the United Cup.
The third seed, who will face Britain’s Jodie Burrage next, hopes the victory will signal a positive tournament for her.
“When I saw the draw, I was like, ‘It’s not a great first round’,” said Gauff, who lost to Kenin in the first round of Wimbledon two years ago.
“She is one of those people who can play excellent tennis. She’s obviously won this tournament before, but I just think of the positives: if you get through that, you’ve kind of set the tone for staying on top throughout the tournament.”
One of Gauff’s wins at the United Cup came against Swiatek, but the Pole has also had a strong start to the season and she avoided any real alarms in a 6-3 6-4 win over Czech Katerina Siniakova .
Seventh seed Jessica Pegula took exactly an hour to beat young Australian wild card Maya Joint 6-3 6-0, while there was a triumphant return to grand slam tennis for former Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic.
The Swiss gave birth to daughter Bella in April and missed all four major tournaments last year, but Bencic wasted no time making her mark again, defeating 16th seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 7-6 (6).
There was also defeat for two-time former champion Victoria Azarenka , who lost 6-2 7-6 (2) to Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti.
