SAN JOSE ( Associated Press) — Coco Gauff defeated four-time major champion Naomi Osaka 6-4 on Thursday night to reach the quarterfinals of the San Jose tournament.
The local, seeded sixth, made all his serves in the first set and ended the 45-minute feud with three aces. Osaka committed the first double fault of the match at the start of the second set and Gauff took advantage of the 2-1 lead.
Gauff quickly built a double break lead at 5–4, and took a 4–0 lead, before the Japanese saved four match points and used their first ace to make it 5–2.
Osaka then broke Gauff for the first time in the match, conceding another 40–0 run to 5–4 with five straight points. However, Gauff settled on his eighth match point while serving unopposed.
“The thing I’m most proud of is the way I mentally reacted,” Gough said. “I could easily have doubled down on that two double faults and match points, but I kept saying to myself, ‘One more point is another chance,’ and then the music helped me on the bench. I started singing that song. Tried what was ringing to forget something about the match.”
Gauff balanced his record with Osaka at 2-2. She will face Spain’s Paula Badosa (2nd seed) this Friday.
Other tennis players leading the day were Shelby Rogers and Aryna Sabalenka (fourth).
Friday’s schedule at this US Open-prep hard-court tournament includes Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabur taking on Veronika Kudermetova.
