NEW YORK — Coco Gauff needed this.
When you have lost your last five matches against top-50 opponents, you take a win however it comes. You certainly take a win at the U.S. Open on Arthur Ashe Stadium to secure a place in the fourth round at your home Grand Slam. Friday lunchtime, the world No. 3 took that win, coming from a set down to beat Elina Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Svitolina, the Ukrainian No. 27 seed, is exactly the kind of opponent that a player with no top-50 wins in five attempts would want to avoid. In the years since Russia’s invasion of her home country, and the birth of her daughter, Skai, steel and surety have become the defining features of her game. Gauff has struggled for those qualities lately, but this win is a reminder of the resolve that makes her the defending champion in New York.
Gauff acknowledged her lack of form coming into the tournament, but said that she was unaware of her losing streak against the top players in the world. Records like that don’t go unnoticed in the locker room, and to her rivals, Gauff came across vulnerable. Tatjana Maria, world No. 99, walked onto Arthur Ashe believing that she could beat Gauff with a serve and a slice. She wanted to let the American generate her own pace and lift on the ball, and in turn make errors. It worked, for a set, which Gauff willed her way through. By the second one, she had figured out that Maria wasn’t going to hurt her. She won it 6-0. Afterwards, she said she had expected some slice, about 70 times out of 100. Less so 99.
Against Svitolina, she produced a performance that will fuel both the sceptics and the believers. Gauff’s forehand, a known weakness on the WTA Tour, looked vulnerable for large parts of the match, as did her backhand in the first set. Her phenomenal defensive skills and fighting spirit were able to negate some of that vulnerability, but the believers will have taken more notice of how that forehand earned her the points that ultimately took her to victory.
Read more about Gauff’s performance here.
GO FURTHER
Coco Gauff snaps top-50 losing streak at U.S. Open to move into fourth round
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