Coco Gauff battles tears, double faults, beats Donna Vekic to ignite US Open run

Coco Gauff showed why she’s a true fighter Thursday night at the US Open, battling a storm of emotions and service woes to topple Donna Vekic 7-6 (5), 6-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The match lasted 1 hour and 39 minutes and had the crowd on their feet cheering this American star on.

But it wasn’t easy — especially during a nerve-wracking first set where Gauff admitted, “I was just trying to tell myself to breathe.”

She added honestly, “I don’t remember a lot of the end of the first set… it’s kind of amazing that I was able to get out of that one.”

Tie-break win

The tension reached a boiling point when Gauff shed tears, wiping them away before steel-ing herself for a key tiebreak win.

Despite committing seven double faults and being broken four times in the first set, Gauff broke Vekic twice while the Croatian was serving for the set, forcing a tiebreak.

After her seventh double fault -- which came on the opening point of the tiebreak -- Gauff steadied herself just enough to secure the set, moments after wiping away tears following another dropped service game.

The shift in her demeanour was evident when she returned to the court after the break.

After struggling with her serve throughout the first set, she cut down on the double faults and wasn’t broken once in the second.

Moments after clinching victory, Gauff shed a few more tears, thanked the crowd for the support and revealed a surprising secondary source of inspiration behind her second-set resilience: Simone Biles.

“I saw her, and honestly, I don’t know if she’s still up there, but she helped me pull it out,” Gauff said.

“I was just thinking, if she can go on a six-inch beam and do that with all the pressures of the world, then I can hit the ball in this 75…I don’t know how big this court is. 

“But I saw her late in the second getting interviewed by ESPN, and it brought me a little bit of calm just knowing her story with all the things she went through mentally. She’s an inspiration, surely, and her presence definitely did help me today.”

73 Grand Slam match win

With the victory, Gauff earned her 73rd Grand Slam match win.

Since 2000, only Maria Sharapova (85) has recorded more women’s singles Grand Slam victories before turning 22.

She’ll have a chance to capture win No. 74 in the third round when she faces off against Magdalena Frech, whom she has defeated in both of their previous meetings without dropping a set.