NEW YORK — Coco Gauff showed that youth would not be served on this night, beating 18-year-old and fellow American Iva Jovic 6-1, 6-4 to earn a spot in the US Open quarterfinals.
Before a raucous crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Gauff started out slow and was broken on her initial serve but then showed fierceness and a pinpoint serve to systematically dismantle the No. 14 seed, winning the next six games and taking the set in an efficient 33 minutes.
Gauff, herself, was looking to avoid another disappointment at Flushing Meadows. Since winning the championship in 2023, she has lost in this round each of the past two years. At age 22, Gauff is the youngest American woman to make three Grand Slam quarterfinals in one year since Serena Williams in 2003.
Gauff, the No. 4 seed, has now won her last 10 matches, beaten seven Americans in a row in Grand Slams, and is in her 12th Grand Slam quarterfinal.
"She's an incredible player, incredible talent," Gauff said of Jovic after the match. "She plays beyond her years."
In the crucial fifth game in the second set, Gauff showed amazing athleticism during a 24-shot rally – screaming out in jubilation when she scored a forehand winner – and then went on to break Jovic's serve.
The young Californian, who was making her first appearance in the fourth round at the US Open, showed reserve, breaking Gauff's next serve to square the set at three. But Gauff then won another rally two games later, this time a 16-shot flurry that brought the crowd to their feet.
Gauff ended any comeback attempts when the last of Jovic's 30 unforced errors – a backhand shot – hit the net.
Gauff next plays No. 5 seed and reigning French Open champion Mirra Andreeva, who beat Anastasia Potapova in her fourth-round match. Gauff has won each of the five matches they have played, including a Round of 64 win on her way to the 2023 title and a straight-sets win in May in the quarterfinals in Rome.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coco Gauff downs American Iva Jovic to reach US Open quarterfinals
