Gauff Beats Bucsa to Reach US Open R16

Coco Gauff stopped the American bleed on Saturday afternoon. After two U.S. favorites went out early, the fourth seed beat unseeded Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 6-4 on Arthur Ashe Stadium and reached the US Open Round of 16 for a fifth straight year, per the WTA.

Bucsa jumped ahead 3-1 in the first set. Gauff broke back to 3-all, then ran three straight games and closed the set with a serve Bucsa could not handle. In the second they held through six games before Gauff broke for 4-3. Bucsa broke right back. Gauff then took the last eight points and walked out of Ashe with the job done. It was not pretty for long stretches. It was professional when it had to be.

Day session rhythm

"It was way different playing in the day than at night," Gauff said. "I think I was decelerating a little bit, just because it's a little bit faster. But once I was down that break, I just told myself I need to accelerate through my shots."

She made under half her first serves and double-faulted six times, yet still won 20 of 27 first-serve points. Defense and movement carried her early. She converted four of nine break chances and won 15 of 22 points at net. Late in the match the ball started sitting up, and she ripped more returns and stepped forward. That is the Gauff pattern when the feel is late to arrive: survive first, swing second.

"She's a tricky player. She can sometimes speed it up and slow it down," Gauff said. "So it was tough for me to get a rhythm, but I'm just happy with how I fought through even when I wasn't playing my best." First meeting in more than three years, and Bucsa still made the tempo awkward. Gauff just refused to let the awkward become fatal.

Jovic on Monday

Gauff has won nine matches in a row, the last eight in straight sets, after lifting her first WTA title of the year in Cincinnati. Monday she gets 18-year-old countrywoman Iva Jovic, who outlasted Alexandra Eala 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in a three-hour Ashe classic Saturday night.

They already met once this year in Rome, a 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 win for Gauff on clay. An all-American Round of 16 means one of them reaches the quarters. Saturday was about surviving Bucsa's tempo. Monday is about Ashe with a teenager who just lived there for three hours and fell to the court when it ended. Gauff wants the rematch. Flushing will pick a side early.