There was a renewed energy in the air for Coco Gauff.
She didn’t have to enter Arthur Ashe Stadium under the concert-like lights and music for night matches that can easily increase the pressure for any tennis player.
Rather, she had the starting match on the U.S. Open’s main court Saturday morning and it seemed to bring a calmer vibe for the world’s No. 3-ranked player
Guaff seemed to be having fun for the first time in the year’s final tournament and it powered her through to punch her ticket to the Round of 16 in a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Magdalena Fręch in an hour and 13 minutes.
It was a great change of pace after the rollercoaster she endured Thursday night, when she cried mid-match en route to rallying for a win.
“I thought today I played well. It was tough playing two night matches, and dealing with the shade. Overall, very happy with how I played and thrilled to be going to the fourth round,” she said in her on-court interview after the match as she smiled and waved to the crowd.
“Emotional week, but I think I needed those tough moments to be able to move forward…” she added. “Today, I think it showed I was really having fun out there.”
Gauff couldn’t have asked for a better start to her service game, which has been put into the spotlight after hiring new coach, Gavin MacMillan, a day before the start of the Open to fix her serve and to do that as quickly as possible.
To kick off her third-round match, Gauff went down two break points but kept her service and nailed all six of her first six serves in play with a 104-mph winner to take the first game.
After her emotional second-round victory, the 2023 U.S. Open champion said getting her first serves in during the second set pushed her confidence.
It showed early on Saturday, as she went on to get the early break, 3-0.
She started to falter slightly, missing some first serves and Fręch broke Gauff in the fifth game for the first time after the American’s first double fault of the match.
Gauff then couldn’t convert her break point after being up 40-15, and Fręch tied the set, 3-3.
However, Gauff didn’t let it throw her off.
An un-returnable 105-mph serve ended a great service hold for her, which warranted a “come on” scream as she went to the bench during the changeover.
Gauff then broke Fręch again after three straight unforced errors and then an overshot forehand error won the Florida native the first set.
From there, she didn’t want to waste any more time.
Guaff’s first service game was fiery. She got Fręch to make an error off a testy drop shot. She later laced a 113-mph ace, followed by an un-returnable 86-mph serve that got the set 1-1 all.
She went on to expose Fręch’s 29 unforced errors and only had four double faults and 18 unforced errors of her own.
Gauff also had 76 percent of her first serves in play, a big increase from 69 percent a match ago.
It’s Gauff’s fourth year in a row that she is moving on to the fourth round at the U.S. Open.
She will play either two-time U.S. Open women’s singles champion Naomi Osaka or Australia’s Darla Kasatkina.
