By HOWARD FENDRICH
For the first time at this U.S. Open, Coco Gauff didn’t double-fault in her first service game. And for the first time, she didn’t get broken to begin things, either.
With her work-in-progress serve looking the best it has so far in this trip to Flushing Meadows, the No. 3-seeded Gauff turned in by far her most solid — and stress-free — performance Saturday, defeating No. 28 Magdalena Frech of Poland 6-3, 6-1 to reach the fourth round of a tournament she won in 2023.
“It’s been like an emotional week … but I think I needed those tough moments to move forward,” said Gauff, who will face four-time major champion Naomi Osaka on Monday for a berth in the quarterfinals. “I was putting too much pressure on myself.”
Osaka, who won titles in New York in 2018 and 2020, moved into the fourth round — a stage she last got to at any major at the 2021 Australian Open — with a 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 victory over No. 15 Daria Kasatkina.
Back in 2019, during Gauff’s first U.S. Open, when she was just 15, she lost to reigning champion Osaka in the third round. Afterward, Osaka consoled a teary Gauff and encouraged her to address the crowd.
After two difficult wins under the lights at night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Gauff started Saturday’s schedule with an 11:30 a.m. match. With shade covering nearly half of the blue court on a cloudless morning, there were none of the tears or struggles that marked her earlier appearances during the week.
“It was kind of hard to see the ball,” Gauff said, “but overall, I’m happy with the way I played.”
In both of her earlier outings, against Ajla Tomljanovic on Tuesday and Donna Vekic on Thursday, Gauff fell behind 2-0. Against Frech, the 21-year-old from Florida went up 3-0, before running into a hint of trouble: Gauff slapped a second serve into the net to double-fault and get broken, getting Frech within 3-2, and soon it was 3-all after 26 minutes.
So, essentially, they were starting over, and the next game was pivotal. Gauff led 40-love but wound up at 40-30 after shanking a forehand that landed 10 feet out.
Thousands of fans started yelling encouragement and clapping to try to help Gauff. She heard, looked around and clutched a ball for her next serve, vigorously shaking it. Gauff stepped to the baseline and delivered a 105 mph first serve that drew an errant return. Upon watching the ball land out, she leaned forward, clenched her left fist and screamed “Come on!”
That began a set-closing three-game run and Gauff was on her way. Her serve has become a major issue, which is why she brought aboard a biomechanics expert, Gavin MacMillan, who helped Aryna Sabalenka settle her serving yips and rise to No. 1 in the WTA rankings with three major championships, including in New York a year ago.
Gauff’s title defense at the U.S. Open in 2024 ended with a fourth-round loss in which she had 19 double-faults. She has been the worst player on the women’s tour in that category this season and reached a low point with 23 in a victory at Montreal last month, and 14 more in her next match.
In the wins against Tomljanovic and Vekic, Gauff totaled 18 double-faults and lost 10 of the games she served. What got her through those was the rest of her game: returning, defending and a clear superiority once the ball was in play.
Those last three areas were again strengths for Gauff. She broke Frech five times and was terrific whenever their baseline exchanges lasted more than four shots, taking 35 of those 51 points. She also made only 18 unforced errors and claimed the point on 10 of her 11 times at the net.
All eyes were on Gauff’s serve, of course, and that showed quite an improvement on Saturday: four double-faults and just the one break. She put in 76% of her first serves while averaging 98 mph, with a high of 113 mph.
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