The path to greatness is hardly ever linear, but Coco Gauff is still on an upward trajectory.

Gauff took her first step toward defending her U.S. Open title on Monday with a straight-sets victory — 6-2, 6-0 — over France’s Varvara Gracheva in the first round of the tournament.

Relegated to the second afternoon match inside Arthur Ashe Stadium amid recent struggles, the third-seeded Gauff overcame early self-inflicted mistakes before firing off 10 aces to power through the remainder of the match.

As Gauff walked off the court where she triumphed for her first Grand Slam title last year, however, it was apparent just how much better the 20-year-old will have to be when she meets Germany’s Tatjana Maria in Round 2.

The last few weeks have not gone her way, but Gauff credited how good she was feeling on Monday to her newfound perspective.

“If you defend something that means you won something, and if you did it that means you can do it again,” she said in her on-court interview. “Whether I do it again this year or not, I am gonna do it again.”

The final score does not depict the pressure Gracheva put on Gauff to start.

The 24-year-old Frenchwoman forced six break points over Gauff’s first three service games, but the reigning champ survived each one and broke Gracheva to take the first set.

Gauff also had five double-faults in her first set, but only one in the second as she significantly tightened up her game.

After breaking Gracheva’s first service game of the second set, Gauff won the final nine games to advance in 66 minutes.

Gauff, who hasn’t won a tournament this year since the Auckland Open in January, rode her raw skill and strong service game to victory.

The 10 aces she blasted came at opportune times, especially when Gracheva finessed a pair of break points in the final game. Gauff saved both with aces, while Gracheva didn’t record a single one for the entire match.

There was a lot left to be desired regarding Gauff’s game in the first round, but it was still an encouraging start when considering her recent performances.

It’s been a tough summer for Gauff, who was first run out of Wimbledon in the fourth round by No. 19 seed and fellow American Emma Navarro in July.

She then lost herself in a third-round defeat to Croatia’s Donna Vekic at the Olympics in Paris, which Gauff still honored by wearing a charm necklace of the Olympic rings during Monday’s match.

American doubles specialist Desirae Krawczyk gifted the whole Olympic team either a necklace or a ring, said Gauff, who was the Olympic flag bearer for Team USA along with LeBron James.

“So I was like, ‘I might as well flex that,’ ” she said with a smile.

Gauff’s misfortunes continued even after the international games, when she lost in straight sets to Diana Schnaider in Toronto and blew a third-set lead to Russia’s Yulia Putintseva in the first round in Cincinnati earlier this month.

But it was as good a start to the U.S. Open as Gauff could’ve asked for, she said, noting that she hopes to get better as the tournament progresses. Pointing out that she had to prevail in three sets to start last year’s tournament, Gauff said she intends to stay even keeled.

“The last couple weeks were tough, and I was like, ‘I have to do this, I have to do that,’ ” Gauff said. “But I don’t have to prove anything to anyone except myself. So [these] two weeks are just about proving all the expectations that I have on myself. I think just learning and just realizing that I have a lot left to give this game.

“Whether it’s going to happen this year or in the future of many more years coming back here — and I’m not going to win every year. I think just [having] that perspective and just having the belief that I can, but not the expectation that I should.”