Gauff, aiming to win her maiden Miami title, won 84 percent of her first-serve points, saved the one break point she faced and converted six of her nine break points in the 47-minute match.
“I was definitely playing well today, and maybe she wasn’t playing her peak great tennis,” Gauff said on Thursday.
“I don’t think anyone who is playing their best tennis will have that scoreline today, so I’m not going to sit here and say she played her best tennis.”
Up next for Gauff, who was eliminated in the round of 16 at Indian Wells last week, will be Ashlyn Krueger who stunned seventh seed Elena Rybakina 6-4 2-6 6-4 for the first top-10 win of her career.
Top seed and two-times Grand Slam champion Aryna Sabalenka, playing her first match since losing to Mirra Andreeva in the Indian Wells final, broke Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova six times en route to a 6-3 6-0 win.
Sabalenka will face qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the third round after the Bulgarian advanced with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Polish 29th seed Magdalena Frech.
Italy’s Jasmine Paolini and Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen also advanced, and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez beat American Alycia Parks 7-6(1) 6-3.
Naomi Osaka beat 24th seed Liudmila Samsonova 6-2 6-4.
On the men’s side, Reilly Opelka earned his first ATP Masters 1000 win since 2022 with a 6-3 7-6(4) triumph over American wild card Christopher Eubanks and will face Indian Wells finalist Holger Rune in the second round.
China’s Bu Yunchaokete beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie 6-4 6-2 without facing a break point and qualifiers Jacob Fearnley and Thiago Agustin Tirante also advanced.
Former finalist Kei Nishikori withdrew from his Miami opener after reaching the semi-finals of an ATP Challenger Tour event last week.
“My body has not recovered enough from the matches last week. I will now go home and get ready for the clay court season,” Nishikori said. (Reuters)
