Coco Gauff French Open Odds: US ace +800 to win second Slam

Having won her maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open last year, Coco Gauff is +800 to add a second major to her collection at the upcoming French Open.

Gauff has already tasted a French Open final, having finished runner-up to world number one Iga Swiatek in 2022, and she went one better at last season’s US Open, topping Aryna Sabalenka to land a Grand Slam breakthrough.

The American made the semi-final of the Australian Open at the beginning of the season to show she, along with Swiatek, Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, is part of the dominant four in the women’s game.

Gauff, still only 20 years of age, has the world at her feet and it should only be a matter of time until she claims more major silverware, ensuring she looks a strong French Open contender.

The Atlanta native is +800 to win the second Grand Slam of the season and she has reached the quarter-final in Paris in each of the last three seasons, so she will return there full of confidence.

Avoiding Swiatek will be key for Gauff

Given her tender years, Gauff has played in the French Open on only four occasions and her opening start in 2020 saw her beaten in the second round by Italian qualifier Martina Trevisan.

However, Trevisan went on to reach the quarter-final so there was no shame in that defeat given she would have been only 16-years-old.

Gauff learned plenty from that experience, though, and the following year she went on to make her first Grand Slam quarter-final, where she was beaten by eventual champion Barbora Krejcíkova.

In 2022, aged 18, Gauff went into the tournament seeded 18th and she didn’t drop a single set on her way to the final, before she found the powers of world number one Swiatek too hot to handle.

Last season, Gauff was unable to build on her final exploits but she did reach the last eight, although she again bumped into the Polish phenomenon that is Swiatek.

The American youngster will believe she can enjoy another deep run, although avoiding Swiatek will be key.

Gauff made the semi-final in Rome last time out but lost 6-4 6-3 to old nemesis Swiatek, which means she trails 10-1 in their personal series.

The draw is unknown at the time of writing but being seeded three will mean she avoids the prolific Pole until the final, with big-hitting Belarusian Sabalenka her most feared potential semi-final opponent.

The 20-year-old is a seven-time winner on the WTA Tour but her only clay court title came in a minor event at the Emilia-Romagna Open, Italy, in 2021.

Youngster bullish about her title prospects

Gauff is not short on belief and she has every reason for that given the amount of success she has already secured on the WTA Tour.

The American took some time to find her stride following her split from coach Pere Riba but things appear to be working with Brad Gilbert, who has previously worked with the likes of Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray and is also a commentator and analyst for ESPN.

And Gauff admits she feels like she is a "different player" ahead of her return to the French capital.

Speaking after her defeat to Swiatek in Rome, Gauff said: "I think going into Roland Garros, like if you asked me pre-tournament and now, I feel like I'm a different player in terms of just how I've been playing. I think it really turned around in the Badosa match, then pushed through the Qinwen.

"I feel like the scoreline doesn't show how competitive it was. It was almost two hours at 6-4, 6-3." 

She added: "Going into it, I know [Iga Swiatek's] the one to beat if I want to win [the French Open]. I'm going to take what I learned from today and try to apply that next time we play, which I hope is Roland Garros".

American hoping to break new ground

Gauff is one of the strongest players on the WTA Tour already, despite still being one so young and relatively inexperienced, and she will have lofty ambitions of adding many more Grand Slam titles to her CV down the line.

That should be the case for the world number three, who has won seven titles already which includes the US Open and a WTA 1000 event in the Cincinnati Open.

Victory at the French Open could even see her leapfrog Sabalenka to a career-high ranking of world number two and that isn’t the only milestone she can achieve.

European women have dominated the clay-court major, with Serena Williams the last American woman to win the French Open in 2015. 

Gauff will be hoping to break new ground after almost a decade and doing so would also make her the first American since Williams to win multiple Grand Slams titles.

Gauff, Sofia Kenin and Sloane Stephens are the only three Americans to win a women’s Grand Slam since Williams claimed her 23rd and final one at the 2017 Australian Open.

This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.