NEW YORK Coco Gauff finally found her rhythm at the U.S. Open, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The defending champion put together her sharpest performance of the tournament so far on Saturday, brushing aside No. 28 seed Magdalena Frech of Poland 6-3, 6-1. With the win, Gauff set up a fourth-round showdown against two-time U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka in one of the most anticipated matches of the year.
For the first time this week, Gauff avoided an early stumble. She didn’t double-fault in her opening service game and wasn’t broken out of the gate, a welcome change after shaky starts in her previous two matches.
“It’s been an emotional week,” Gauff said afterward. “I think I needed those tough moments to move forward. I was putting too much pressure on myself.”
The No. 3 seed will now face Osaka on Monday for a place in the quarterfinals. Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion who lifted the trophy in New York in 2018 and 2020, advanced with a 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 win over Daria Kasatkina. It’s the deepest she’s gone at a major since the 2021 Australian Open.
The matchup also carries history. Back in 2019, a 15-year-old Gauff lost to Osaka in the third round at the U.S. Open. After the match, Osaka famously comforted a tearful Gauff and urged her to address the crowd, a moment that went viral.
On Saturday, there was no need for tears. Playing the day’s first match at Arthur Ashe Stadium in front of a sunlit morning crowd, the 21-year-old Floridian looked calm and in control. She built a quick 3-0 lead, slipped briefly when Frech pulled even at 3-all, but then roared back with a fist pump and a shout of “Come on!” after blasting a 105 mph serve to hold. From there, she ran away with the match.
Her serve, long her biggest weakness, showed real progress. Gauff has struggled badly with double-faults this season, even hitting 23 in a single match in Montreal. Last year, her U.S. Open title defense ended in the fourth round with 19 double-faults. But against Frech, she limited the damage to four and lost serve just once. She landed 76% of her first serves, averaged 98 mph, and reached a top speed of 113 mph.
The rest of her game was as sharp as ever. Gauff broke Frech five times, dominated in long rallies by winning 35 of 51 points lasting more than four shots, and finished with just 18 unforced errors. She also won 10 of 11 points at the net.
The improvements didn’t happen by accident. Gauff has been working with biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan, the same coach who helped Aryna Sabalenka overcome her own serving struggles and rise to world No. 1.
Now, Gauff’s reward is a blockbuster meeting with Osaka a clash between two of the sport’s biggest stars, one that feels like it could define this year’s U.S. Open.
