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    Friday, August 30, 2019

    Coco Gauff Impresses Again at US Open, Beating Timea Babos for R3

    American teenage tennis sensation Coco Gauff continued to build on her Wimbledon success, advancing past Hungary’s Timea Babos 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 Thursday night in New York 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 at Louis Armstrong Stadium 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, USA Today reports

    Babos found her game in the second set, forced more volleys and broke Gauff.

    “She played so good,” Gauff said of Babos. “I’m just so happy to get through.”

    The third set was hard fought before Gauff, with the crowd behind her all night, pulled away.

    “If I didn’t win that last point, she may have won the match,” Gauff said. “Anyone could have won.”

    She pumped her fist while forcing match point and then raised her hands in triumph as Babos hit a return into the net.
    Gauff will have to play a doubles match on Friday before she faces Osaka. The crowd will likely be behind her in that match, too.

    “I’m super-honoured to be American and playing in New York City,” she said.

    Gauff has now made $163,000 by advancing to the third round of her home Slam. She’s the youngest player to reach the third round at the Open since Anna Kournikova made the fourth in 1996.

    The match was watched by many celebrities, including Kobe Bryant and C.C. Sabathia.
    Bryant, who watched Osaka’s match alongside Colin Kaepernick, jumped into the ESPN booth for the Gauff match and heaped praise on the 15-year-old.

    “At 15, God knows I wasn’t like that,” Bryant, a former teenage star himself, said on air.

    “She’s a phenomenon for sure,” he said.

    Gauff told the crowd of the Osaka match: “I don’t have any thoughts on it right now because I have to play doubles tomorrow with Caty [McNally] so I’m really focused on that,”. “Saturday I’m going to think about the match but tomorrow I’m worried about my doubles match.”

    Osaka, who beat Serena Williams in last year’s controversial final, looked ahead to Gauff after her 6-2, 6-4 victory earlier Thursday over Magda Linette.

    “Yeah, she’s super sweet and I would love to play her, of course,” Osaka said. “For me, when I hear people talking about someone, I want to have the opportunity to play them just to assess it for myself.”
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