NEW YORK — Coco Gauff raised a fist then wagged her right index finger, responding to, and riling up even more, a loud-louder-loudest Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd that was standing and screaming. Gauff’s US Open opponent, Shuai Zhang, covered both ears with her hands to shield them from what she described later as a “boom” of sound.
Gauff and her fans were reacting excitedly to quite a point, one in which the 18-year-old Floridian raced to her right for a defensive forehand then changed directions to sprint and slide into a backhand that drew a netted volley from Zhang. Just four points later, Gauff was a quarterfinalist at Flushing Meadows for the first time.
Gauff, the French Open runner-up in June, came back in each set to beat China’s Zhang 7-5, 7-5 on Sunday and become the youngest American to make it this far at the US Open since Melanie Oudin was 17 in 2009.
“Here, I can’t hear myself scream. Makes me want to do it more. I think I’m feeding off the momentum a lot. I enjoy it,” said No. 12 seed Gauff, who will meet No. 17 Caroline Garcia of France on Tuesday. “New York is bringing out a side of me that I haven’t had since I was 15, so it’s nice.”
After trailing 5-4 in the opening set then 5-3 in the second — which she was a point from losing — Gauff was buoyed by spectators who cheered her every point and chanted, “Let’s go, Coco,” as the end neared. She improved to 4-0 at Arthur Ashe Stadium this year after having never previously won a match at the biggest arena in Grand Slam tennis.
How loud was it?
“It got so raucous in there that I got a headache. I had to take an Advil,” said Gauff’s father, Corey. “I kept pinching myself. I’m like, ‘My gosh, all of these people here for my daughter.’ You dream about this, but you never know if you’re going to realize that. She was pumping herself up, and they responded to her. It sent chills up my spine.”
Zhang, at 33 the oldest woman to reach the fourth round, said it was more noise than she has ever heard at a match.
She praised Gauff’s play, calling her “a superstar” and adding, “Everything is very good. She’s so much younger than me. Her energy is so much better. She’s faster. She’s powerful.”
They competed mostly from the baseline, and the longer the exchanges, the more success Gauff found. She claimed a 45-26 edge in points that lasted five or more strokes.
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