"Play with some air" Brad Gilbert's coaching at 1-0 down in 3rd set sends Gauff towards US Open Quarter-Finals with Wozniacki win

Coco Gauff defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and advanced to the quarterfinals at the US Open. In this article we also highlight the importance of Brad Gilbert's coaching role.

A highly anticipated match took place at the Arthur Ashe Stadium between former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and young star Coco Gauff. The Danish player returned to the WTA tour less than a month ago and demonstrated that she has the competitive rhythm for the highest level.

Wozniacki secured victories at the US Open against Tatiana Prozorova and then an impressive performance led her to triumph over the 11th seed Petra Kvitova, just as she did in the third round against Jennifer Brady.

The young American, in her best form, recently achieved her first WTA 500 title in Washington and her first WTA 1000 title in the Cincinnati Open. She has also shown strength in Flushing Meadows with victories over Laura Siegemund, Mirra Andreeva, and Elise Mertens. Also, as it happens to be, under the eye of Brad Gilbert.

From the outset, Gauff displayed aggressiveness, trying to take the initiative in the points, although this led to her making 14 unforced errors during the set, losing her first service game. Wozniacki couldn't maintain her advantage and dropped a break to level the score. Although Gauff was down 2-0, she won 5 of the next 6 games and took the set 6-3.

In the second set, both players saved several break points but managed to maintain parity. Once again, Gauff sought to control the points, but Wozniacki's strong defense forced her to go for the lines, resulting in 22 unforced errors this time. Wozniacki seized her chance in the eighth game and secured the only break of the set to win the match.

In the third set, Gauff once again dominated the points. After losing the first game, Gauff regained her confidence when her coach, Brad Gilbert, told her to, "play with some air." The young American came back in the match and demonstrated her class as she recovered and won the next six games to close out the match with a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Brad Gilbert's coaching during Coco Gauff's rise since the summer surely cannot be underestimated. Also in her previous match, against Belgian Elise Mertens, Gauff was struggling in the first set and the start of the second set. It was striking during that game that Brad Gilbert stays silent most of the times in Coco's bad spells. Midway the start of the second set, he felt help was needed and pointed out to Coco Gauff that she needed "to match her energy level" meaning the Belgian's. Gauff took it on board, and improved her level.

In this match again, against Woznicaki, the coach was pointing out a thing or 2. Gauff even demanded her coach to "stop talking" according to the Washington Post (who seem to have deleted the article within an hour of its release although the Independent ran the story among others). Again he did, because Wozniacki seemed to have gained the upperhand, but at the first instant of good play in the third set, he instructed Gauff to play with more air. Despite the little dispute beforehand, so she did and went on to win the match with a dominant style of play.

In the quarterfinals, a potential rematch of the Cincinnati semifinal against Iga Swiatek could be on the horizon. Gauff had a tough record of seven consecutive matches without even winning a set against the Polish player, but she ended that streak just two weeks ago. Before that, Swiatek must overcome her round of 16 match, which will conclude Sunday's action when she faces the 20th seed Jelena Ostapenko.