NEW YORK — Coco Gauff turned issues round after being a set down and beat Elina Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 within the US Open’s third spherical on Friday, extending the 20-year-old American’s protection of her first Grand Slam title.
The third-seeded Gauff made mistake after mistake within the first set at Arthur Ashe Stadium and dropped the final 11 factors in opposition to the Twenty seventh-seeded Svitolina, a three-time main semifinalist.
“She’s a fighter,” Gauff mentioned. “I knew I needed to play my greatest.”
Gauff managed to reel off 9 of 11 video games in a single stretch and gained regardless of shedding the opening set, one thing she did 3 times en path to profitable the 2023 trophy on the US Open, together with within the ultimate in opposition to Aryna Sabalenka.
The key this time? “I attempted to be extra aggressive on my forehand facet,” Gauff mentioned, “and tried to make much less errors on the backhand.”
By the conclusion of 1 set, Gauff’s totals had been 16 unforced errors — 9 on backhands — and simply seven winners. She put solely 45% of her first serves in. She went 0-for-3 on break factors. She allowed Svitolina to say 19 of the 28 factors that lasted greater than 4 strokes.
All of these numbers received higher throughout the final two units. And one thing else modified, on the behest of her coaches: Gauff received the partisan crowd extra concerned.
“My group was type of like telling me that [the fans] had been on the sting of their seats,” Gauff defined. “So I mentioned, ‘OK, I must erupt so that you guys can erupt.'”
This comeback ends a five-match shedding streak for Gauff in opposition to opponents ranked within the prime 50 and is perhaps simply what she wants to maneuver previous a latest stoop that noticed her win simply 5 of her earlier 9 matches.
Such a distinction to a yr in the past, when Gauff gained 18 of 19, and 12 in a row, alongside the way in which to 2 tuneup titles on onerous courts after which the championship on the US Open that made her the primary U.S. teenager to triumph at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams in 1999.
On Sunday, Gauff will play for a berth within the quarterfinals in opposition to No. 13 Emma Navarro of the U.S. — who beat Gauff in Wimbledon’s fourth spherical final month. Navarro defeated No. 19 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Every part started to alter for Gauff on Friday after 1 hour, 10 minutes, when she broke to steer 4-2 within the second set, smacking a cross-court forehand winner. She celebrated with a yell of “Come on!” and raised her left hand to wiggle her fingers and ask the spectators to get louder.
Quickly that set belonged to Gauff, who closed it with a 94 mph ace, shook a fist and shouted.
Within the third, with UConn ladies’s basketball stars Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd sitting in her visitor field at Ashe, Gauff broke immediately, then held to go up 2-0 with the assistance of 1 38-stroke level that she took when Svitolina despatched a backhand huge.
Quickly it was 5-1 for Gauff, whose solely late wobble got here when she served for the match at 5-2. She wasted three match factors and received damaged there. However Gauff broke proper again to shut issues out.
Since making her Grand Slam debut in 2019, Gauff has gained 12 main matches after dropping the opening set, second solely to Ons Jabeur (13) in that span.
Gauff grew to become the sixth American lady to win 60 main matches earlier than her twenty first birthday, becoming a member of Serena Williams, Mary Joe Fernandez, Chris Evert, Venus Williams and Tracy Austin.
ESPN Stats & Data and The Related Press contributed to this report.
