Fifteen-year-old US sensation Coco Gauff on Thursday set up an eye-catching US Open showdown with defending champion Naomi Osaka, while Rafael Nadal received a walkover into the third round.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Simona Halep crashed out early, the Taiwanese falling 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2) to Czech Karolina Muchova, and the Wimbledon champ to 116th-ranked Taylor Townsend.
Gauff defeated Hungarian qualifier Timea Babos 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to become the youngest player in the last 32 at a US Open since Anna Kournikova in 1996.
Photo: AP
Asked about her impending clash with world No. 1 Osaka, Gauff said her primary focus was yesterday’s doubles match with 17-year-old partner Caty McNally.
Nadal advanced without striking a ball when injury-plagued Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis pulled out of their scheduled evening tie with a right shoulder problem.
The Spanish 18-time Grand Slam winner is to meet South Korean qualifier Chung Hyeon for a spot in the last 16.
His path to a fourth title, already helped with rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on the opposite side of the draw, cleared further having already seen four top-10 rivals dumped out in the first round.
Sixth seed Alexander Zverev is the highest-ranked player remaining on his side of the draw, as the German survived a second five-set marathon by outlasting American Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to equal his best US Open run.
Townsend upended women’s fourth seed Halep 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), the Romanian consigned to another premature exit at Flushing Meadows, having been knocked out in the opening round in 2017 and last year.
“I was not inspired at all today, but I fought,” Halep said.
“This means a lot. It has been a long journey,” said a tearful Townsend, who matched her run to the French Open third round on her Grand Slam debut in 2014.
Osaka proved too strong for 53rd-ranked Magda Linette of Poland, sweeping to a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
“I feel like I had my moments where I played really well,” Osaka said. “I think the main thing for me was that I was able to adjust whenever I figured out something was going wrong.”
Among the celebrities watching her match were basketball legend Kobe Bryant and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
“I’m really grateful they came out,” Osaka said. “It’s really cool. I honestly just wanted to finish as fast as possible because I didn’t want them to be out in the sun too long.”
Men’s fifth seed Daniil Medvedev was struck down by a cramp during a 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 win over Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien.
“I’m not sure what happened today and why I started cramping suddenly,” Medvedev said. “I obviously thought at one point: ‘How did I win?’ I don’t know how I did.”
Stan Wawrinka beat Jeremy Chardy in four sets and is on a fourth-round collision course with Djokovic, while Australian 28th seed Nick Kyrgios rolled past 104th-ranked French wildcard Antoine Hoang 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
Andrea Petkovic knocked out Czech sixth seed Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-4, while 15th seed Bianca Andreescu and two-time runner-up Caroline Wozniacki also progressed.
In the mixed doubles first round, Taiwanese Chan Hao-ching and Australian Michael Venus overcame Slovenian Andreja Klepac and Ken Skupski of England 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5).
Additional reporting by staff writer
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