ASB Classic: Teen ace Coco Gauff shows snap, crackle but no pop

Coco Gauff of the U.S. makes a forehand return during her second round singles match against Germany's Laura Siegemund at the ASB Classic. Photo / AP

Coco Gauff is still on a learning curve, and it showed in her second round exit at the ASB Classic yesterday.

The American teenager had a sensational year in 2019, rising more than 800 ranking places, with captivating runs at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows.

But she's still only 15 years old, with less than a year on tour, and sometimes things just don't go to plan.

She was favoured to beat German world No75 Laura Siegemund, but it never really looked likely on an off day for the wunderkind.

"I didn't play my best tennis," said world No68 Gauff. "I tried my best. I didn't feel like there was much missing; I just feel like I wasn't hitting my shots like I normally do. But it's okay; I learned a lot from this match.

"I'm still learning. And that's the problem; [My dad] told me I didn't play like I played in practice, I didn't play the right way. If I lost playing the right way it would have been fine, but I don't feel like I was playing the right way. I tried to overplay and I should have just gone for bigger targets instead of going for lines."

It was a good summation of the contest, where Siegemund was consistent, employed a good game plan, and frustrated Gauff into errors.

Gauff has been widely touted as the next big thing, and probably will be, and almost everybody at Stanley St was hoping she would win.

But it wasn't to be, and never really looked like it, as Gauff couldn't find her A game, while Siegemund was efficient and solid.

The German can best be described as a talented journey-woman. The 31-year-old has reached as high as No27, and once beat three top 10 players on the way to winning a tournament in Stuttgart.

But that is one of only two WTA titles she has picked up in 17 years on tour and she has never gone beyond the third round of a Grand Slam (in 13 attempts), while Gauff managed that in her debut major last year.

But Gauff, as you would expect sometimes from a teenager, struggled mentally yesterday.

She made a nervy start, slipping to 0-40 in her opening service game, before being broken.

Both players exchanged breaks, with Gauff letting out a guttural roar after a sequence of hard-won points, before taking the first set.

Siegemund called for her coach at that point, and his advice worked, as the German took the second set, breaking the Gauff serve four times.

That pattern continued into the third set. Gauff was broken early, and spent most of the set remonstrating with herself, with a final error on match point summing up her day.

Meanwhile, two-time defending champion Julia Goerges continued her golden run in Auckland, with a solid 6-3 6-2 win over Swiss Jill Teichmann in 78 minutes.

It was the 12th successive victory for the German at the ASB Classic, where she hasn't lost since the semifinals in 2017.