Gauff overcomes tears, serving woes against Vekic to reach third round of US Open

American Coco Gauff, the No 3 seed, won against Croat Donna Vekic 7-6 (5), 6-2 to reach the third round of the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Thursday.

Gauff needed an hour, 40 minutes to overcome Vekic to go 2-1 up in the head-to-head.

The American, who has been trying to improve her serve for a while now, struggled again with her swing, which welled her eyes several times during the match. She ended up spraying eight double faults, but her opponent did not fare well either, double-faulting 10 times.

Gauff, however, came out on top on the back of superior first serve and return point averages (59 percent and 50 percent), also committing only 13 unforced errors against Vekic’s 21.

The 21-year-old broke down again during her on-court interview after the match, but, as always, the New York crowd lifted her up.

“Honestly, today was a tough match for me. But I’m just happy with how I was able to manage. It’s been a rough couple weeks,” Gauff said, before tears rolled down, prompting an applause from the spectators. “I’m doing this for myself, but I’m also doing it for you. No matter how tough it gets inside, you can do it.”

She further touched upon it in the press conference, suggesting she is under extreme pressure playing at home.

“It was just nerves and pressure,” she added. “I’m someone that can thrive on that. There’s been a lot on me this tournament, more than usual, which I expected coming in. So yeah, basically what you saw out there was what it was. I was able to reset through it, but it was a challenging moment for me on the court. It’s been a tough couple of weeks on and off the court.”

I felt a lot better going into the match than my first round.”

Coco Gauff

Gauff had a shaky start to her US Open campaign. She had to dig deep to beat Ajla Tomljanovic in the first round. Her serving weakness was on display against Tamljanovic as she amassed 10 double faults in the effort.

In her first tournament with Gavin MacMillan, the biomechanics expert, she is serving with a modified motion in a bid for better consistency.

“The biggest challenge is just changing the motion, changing everything before such a big tournament. For me, this is the most nervous tournament in general. Today, I felt a lot better going into the match than my first round and that’s an improvement in itself.”

Gauff, ranked No 3, will face Pole Magdalena Frech, the No 28 seed, next.

Ahead of her victory, the 21-year-old American edged out Australian Ajla Tomljanovic (6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5).

Vekic, ranked No 55, beat Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (3-6, 7-5, 6-3) in the previous round.

New York (Grand Slam), other second-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 90.000.000, most recent results first):

• Amanda Anisimova vs. Maya Joint
• Daria Kasatkina (15) beat Kamilla Rakhimova: 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
• Jaqueline Cristian beat Ashlyn Krueger: 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
• Diane Parry beat Renata Zarazua: 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7)
• Karolina Muchova (11) beat Sorana Cirstea: 7-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4
• Laura Siegemund beat Anastasia Zakharova: 6-4, 6-2
• Naomi Osaka (23) beat Hailey Baptiste: 6-3, 6-1
• Magdalena Frech beat Peyton Stearns: 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2
• Marta Kostyuk (27) beat Zeynep Sonmez: 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-3
• Iga Swiatek (2) beat Suzan Lamens: 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (18) beat Viktorija Golubic: 6-1, 6-4
• Anna Kalinskaya (29) beat Yulia Putintseva: 6-1, 7-5
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (13) beat Xinyu Wang: 6-2, 6-2
• Maria Sakkari beat Anna Bondar: 6-3, 6-1
• Linda Noskova (21) beat Eva Lys: 6-4, 3-0 ret.
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Polina Kudermetova: 7-6 (4), 6-2
• Ann Li beat Belinda Bencic (16): 6-3, 6-3
• Leylah Fernandez (31) beat Elsa Jacquemot: 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Marketa Vondrousova beat McCartney Kessler (32): 7-6 (7), 6-2
• Jasmine Paolini (7) beat Iva Jovic: 6-3, 6-3
• Mirra Andreeva (5) beat Anastasia Potapova: 6-1, 6-3
• Elise Mertens (19) beat Lulu Sun: 6-2, 6-3
• Priscilla Hon (Q) beat Liudmila Samsonova (17): 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Taylor Townsend beat Jelena Ostapenko (25): 7-5, 6-1
• Elena Rybakina (9) beat Tereza Valentova (Q): 6-3, 7-6 (7)
• Barbora Krejcikova beat Moyuka Uchijima: 6-4, 6-2
• Jessica Pegula (4) beat Anna Blinkova: 6-1, 6-3
• Cristina Bucsa beat Alexandra Eala: 6-4, 6-3
• Victoria Azarenka beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: 6-3, 6-3
• Emma Navarro (10) beat Catherine McNally (WC): 6-2, 6-1
• Emma Raducanu beat Janice Tjen (Q): 6-2, 6-1

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