NEW YORK — While Coco Gauff’s first two opponents here — Ajla Tomljanovic and Donna Vekic — were big hitters, Magdalena Frech is more of a defensive player. From the beginning on Saturday, Gauff’s strategy was clear: Take a little bit off the service speed, create more shape and margin on the forehand with topspin, rely on quickness and defense.
In a word, patience. The second point of the match featured 28 shots and it proved to be a harbinger of things to come.
In the end, the No. 3-seeded Gauff was a relatively stress-free 6-3, 6-1 winner over Frech to begin Labor Day Weekend at the US Open.
Tellingly, there were 25 extended rallies of nine shots or more in Arthur Ashe Stadium — and Gauff won 18 of them. She also cashed in 10 of 11 points at net.
And so, the 21-year-old is through to the fourth round here for the fourth consecutive year.
The 2023 US Open champion will meet the winner of the later match between No. 15 seed Daria Kasatkina and No. 23 Naomi Osaka in a fourth-round match on Monday.
“It’s been like an emotional week, but I think I needed those tough moments to move forward,” Gauff said in her on-court interview. “Overall, I’m really happy how I played and to be through to the next round.”
Gauff ran out to a 3-0 lead, but the No. 28-seeded Frech steered the match back on serve when Gauff double-faulted on the first break point against her. Saving two break points when Gauff became tentative, Frech leveled it at 3-all.
Trailing 4-3, Frech saved two break points but not the third as a wild forehand sailed wide — leaving Gauff to serve comfortably for the set.
It was 1-all in the second when Gauff broke Frech at love. It happened again in the fifth game and Gauff was out to a 4-1 lead.
Gauff’s recent struggles with double faults have been well-documented.
But after hitting 18 double faults and getting broken 10 times in her first two matches, Gauff had only four doubles against Frech — and was broken only once.
When she added biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan to her team just before this US Open, many were skeptical and scrutiny escalated.
In the process of hitting seven double faults in her opening set against Vekic on Thursday, the 21-year-old Gauff teared up. It happened again during her on-court, postmatch interview. Former doubles partner Jessica Pegula, presciently, thought that catharsis might have been a good thing.
“You’re trying to win,” Pegula said of her sometimes doubles partner, “and then you feel like you’re failing, and then you’re crying, and then you still win. Obviously for her she hit a point where she couldn’t hold it in anymore, and it probably helped her that she cried and got it out of her system.
“I think it was probably good that she let it out. Some of us say on tour, when we see a girl crying, they’re probably going to win. She’s probably going to play great now.”
That’s precisely how it played out against Frech, tidy and buttoned-down.