"I was nervous going in" - Gauff on shaky start to Roland Garros

Seeded for the first time at a Grand Slam event, Coco Gauff overcame an attack of nerves as she overcame Aleksandra Krunic in her opening round match to advance at Roland Garros.

The 24th seed pulled off a 7-6(11) 6-4 victory on Tuesday, as she was forced to save four set points in the first set tiebreak and withstood a furious comeback from her qualifier opponent to advance to the second round.

"I was super nervous going into today's match, to be honest," admitted Gauff after the match. "Just because I knew she's a tricky player and she went through qualies and had some matches behind her. I went through qualifying before so I know how confident you are playing in the first round."

After a close first set, Gauff acquired a 5-1 lead in the second, only for Krunic to fight back and win three consecutive games. However, the 17-year old American steadied her nerves, becoming more aggressive as she eventually claimed the match.

"I was nervous going in, and I think it showed,” Gauff said. “She played really well, great tennis. I didn't play my best today, but I'm happy that I was able to fight through it."

"The first rounds are probably some of the hardest matches in the tournament, just because you're probably the most nervous."

Gauff will face China's Wang Qiang in the second round of the French Open, and the American is expected to go far in this year's event.