After experiencing only minor issues in her first two matches at the 2024 US Open, Coco Gauff faced a proper challenge in Elina Svitolina, and she did well.
This was a matchup that analysts circled as a complicated one for the 20-year-old American even before the event began. Andy Roddick went as far as to pick Svitolina to beat the defending champion, even though he personally wanted Gauff to do as well as she did last year.
The issue was obvious—her form. It's been really shaky in recent weeks, with an early exit in Toronto as well as a shocking loss at the Cincinnati Open. Crashing out in her first match as the defending champion wasn't a good look, and she wanted to avoid the same fate in New York.
The American admitted that her practices leading up to the New York Slam were great, and she has been playing much better. Her first two matches weren't perfect, as her first-round opponent, Varvara Gracheva, beat herself with countless unforced errors.
On the other hand, Tatjana Maria simply couldn't run around with Gauff, but she gave her issues in the first set, and the youngster also struggled with her serve in that match. Svitolina would neither beat herself nor tire easily, which made this match challenging.
Gauff won their matchup earlier this year at the ASB Classic in Auckland, but it was a difficult match. This one opened fairly well Gauff. She didn't look nervous, nor was she serving badly.
She was not hitting well, which has been an issue for a while. Svitolina opted for an aggressive approach and got to break points in the fourth game of the match.
The American saved one with a great forehand and another with a great serve. The serve has been a positive surprise for her in this match, and it saved her in that first troublesome game.
Svitolina had a break point at 3-2 again, but another great serve negated that one. Gauff's first break chances came at 3-3 in a game in which Svitolina just lost her focus a bit, but the World No. 3 didn't break, and the Ukrainian remained up 4-3.
Both had a good level by then, but Svitolina was superbly defending at 4-3 to force her opponent into mistakes. It was enough to break and take a 5-3 lead just minutes after Gauff wasted her own.
It was the fourth break point Svitolina had and she converted it. She then held easily to win the opening set 6-3, which was super solid for her.
Gauff was a bit all over the place at times. She didn't hit the first serve well enough, but under pressure, she did serve some great serves. From the baseline, she struggled, committing 16 unforced errors in only nine games of play.
That's far too much for a match of this caliber, especially for her, who tends to be stable. That's the danger of facing Svitolinam, she makes her opponents win matches, and Gauff didn't show up consistently in the opening set.
The second set opened well enough for both. While Gauff kept holding serve, she failed to create much on return. She eventually broke to take a 4-2 lead and then held for a 6-3 second-set win after stabilizing her play a little bit.
The final set opened great for Gauff, who broke early and then held for a 2-0 lead. Momentum was on her side by, as the Ukrainian started to miss a lot.
Gauff missed chances to go up 3-0, but she was looking stable, which was good enough to win the match. Gauff got that second break to go up 5-1 but complicated the match a little bit before winning it 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Coco Gauff vs Elina Svitolina Match Stats:
| Coco Gauff | Elina Svitolina | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Aces | 2 |
| 4 | Double Faults | 7 |
| 55% | First Serve % | 59% |
| 76% (38/50) | Points Won After First Serve % | 75% (39/52) |
| 44% (18/41) | Points Won After Second Serve % | 39% (14/36) |
| 40% (4/10) | Break Point Conversion | 29% (2/7) |
| 21 | Winners | 25 |
| 35 | Unforced Errors | 36 |
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