American teenage phenom Coco Gauff continued to build on her Wimbledon success, advancing past Hungary’s Timea Babos 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 Thursday night to reach the third round of the U.S. Open.
She’ll face defending champion Naomi Osaka Saturday in one of the highly anticipated early matches of the season’s final Grand Slam tournament.
Gauff, 15, had to rally to beat 18-year-old Russian Anastasia Potapova in the first round after losing the first set. But she took control early in the second round against Babos, who’s better known for her doubles play.
Gauff, who intrigued the tennis world by reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon, dominated with a powerful serve that kept Babos off her game. Babos ran into trouble with 17 errors in the first set.
Babos found her game in the second set, forced more volleys and broke Gauff.
The third set was hard fought before Gauff, with the crowd behind her all night, pulled away. She pumped her fist while forcing match point and then raised her hands in triumph as Babos hit a return into the net.
