Although it has not been known for a long time if a 15-year-old American talent gets a wild card at the US Open, she plays in the Flushing Meadows and has successfully passed to the second round.
Gauff played with 18-year-old Potapova so we could see a fight of two teenagers. These two players have not met in their short history at the WTA circuit.
The match started better for Potapova, who led 5-1 in the 1st and won 6-3 it in the end. But then Gauff started playing great tennis like on her way between the Last 16 at Wimbledon, where she was stopped by Simona Halep.
"Honestly, I just wanted to win so bad, I was trying to really dig deep," said Gauff. "I was like, 'You got to make her play. She's not going to hand it to you.' We had a couple long rallies, then I got some winners here and there. Honestly, I mean, I really don't remember the match too well because everything is still a blur."
Gauff knew what she had to do in order to win and she was doing well. In the second set she took the opponent's serve three times and won 6-2. In the last set, there was a big drama until the last moment. Gauff was leading 4-1 and it seemed to be decided, but Potapova leveled to 4-4. But then the American fought in front of the home audience and won the last set 6-4.
"It was crazy,"
an excited Gauff said in her post-match press conference. "Obviously I was nervous going out on the court. It's such a big court. Then my home slam, so I wanted to do well. The crowd really helped me the whole match. Like, it was really a great atmosphere to play in and a great experience for me."
After the match, Coco also talked about the age of herself and her rival, and that she thinks they will meet often in the future.
"I think it was a good match on such a big stage so a lot of people could see it," Gauff continued. "She's young, too. She's only a couple years older than me. I know we're going to see each other a lot in the future. I hope we do see each other in the future, but hopefully in the finals, not in the first round."
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