Coco Gauff serves up return to US Open second week, and will face Naomi Osaka

NEW YORK—Coco Gauff made a triumphant return to the second week of the US Open, dismissing Magdalena Freçh, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the fourth round on Saturday and booking a fourth-round clash with two-time champion Naomi Osaka.

The No. 3 seed struggled on serve in her first two matches of the 2025 US Open but struck only four double faults against the No. 28 seeded Freçh, reaching the Round of 16 in Flushing Meadows for a fourth straight year after winning in one hour and 13 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

"I know this process would be up and down, so today was definitely a positive, and I hope it goes up from here," Gauff said after the match. "I think for me I guess I'm more proud of, like, the mental effort of things and trying to remember the things that we worked on in practice. Today I definitely think was a step in the right direction. You know, I would love to continue to build and improve on that."

Gauff, 21, has been under a microscope for most of the tournament’s first week, arriving to Flushing Meadows having shaken up her coaching team to include biomechanic expert Gavin MacMillan with the aim of reworking an unreliable service motion.

Though the 2023 US Open champion captured her second major victory at Roland Garros only two months ago, Gauff suffered early exits at Wimbledon and throughout the US Open swing, regularly striking double-digit double faults in a phenomenon often described as the “yips.”

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Gauff looked to keep expectations low coming into the tournament but still ranked among the favorites to win, showing why through hard-fought, emotional night-session victories over Ajla Tomljanovic and Donna Vekic to reach the third round.

"For me I think I just realized that I don't want that moment to happen again, like, on court for sure," Gauff said. "I don't want to show, I guess, weakness in moments. But after the match I was thinking, like, maybe it's not a weakness. It's just showing the things that happen in my head and not keeping it inside to the point where I can't play. But I felt with the new perspective, seeing all the support I've gotten since that moment, just seeing how proud people are of me regardless of how I do here."

Waiting for there was Freçh, a 27-year-old from Poland who had never won back-to-back matches at the US Open before this year, rallying from a set down to defeat American Peyton Stearns to ensure a career-best finish at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

With all eyes again on Gauff’s serve, the former world No. 2 opened play on Saturday with a 3-0 lead on an opponent she'd beaten in two previous meetings, striking a single double fault to serve out the set behind a strong 79% first serve percentage.

"Today I felt a lot lighter going on court, and I hope to continue feeling that light weight for the rest of the time here," said Gauff.

Gauff took control early in the second set, as well, securing a break advantage in the third game and grabbing another two games later, dropping just two points on her own serve en route to a 4-1 lead.

Her serving woes threatened to reappear on the brink of victory, serving a fourth double fault as Freçh threatened to reclaim one of the breaks, but Gauff saved break point with a well-struck volley and soldiered on towards the finish line.

Standing between Gauff and the quarterfinals is Osaka, a former world No. 1 into the second week of the US Open for the first time since she last lifted the trophy in 2020.

Gauff and Osaka famously faced off under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2019, when a then-15-year-old Gauff shared the spotlight with Osaka after their third-round match.

"I remember looking back at it, I guess I put way too much pressure on myself thinking I maybe had a chance in that moment to actually do something, which I definitely did, but I think it was just I felt more expectation that I should than maybe belief," Gauff mused.

"If I were to play her, I'm imagining we would probably be on Ashe and at night. I'm just assuming. It would be a cool kind of deja vu type of situation, but hopefully it will be a different result."