New York: Fifteen-year-old wildcard Coco Gauff edged past Hungarian qualifier Timea Babos to set up a third-round meeting with defending champion Naomi Osaka at the US Open.
On Thursday night, Gauff earned a hard-fought 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Babos in a match that lasted two hours and 21 minutes to become the youngest woman to reach the last 32 at Flushing Meadows since Anna Kournikova’s run to the round of 16 in 1996.
“We were both just testing each other,” Gauff said on court after the match, crediting her opponent. “I think if I didn’t win that last point, then maybe she would have won. It was that kind of match.”
She will now take on World No.1 Osaka in what is anticipated to be a highly intriguing meeting on Saturday. It will be Gauff’s second match against a Top 10 player — her Wimbledon run was ended by eventual champion Simona Halep, who was ranked No.7 at the time.
The American now holds a career 5-1 record in major main draws – her perfect 2-0 US Open record adding to her 3-1 mark at Wimbledon in July.
