No. 6 seed Coco Gauff battled back against Elise Mertens to book her place in the Round of 16, but she was driven to success by an unlikely source. Gauff spotted pop star Justin Bieber in the crowd, and her game completely changed.
Gauff fought back from being a set down to win for the ninth time in her Grand Slam career, and she’s only 19.
The American was visibly frustrated during the first set and Mertens won 6-3 as the crowd started to sense a huge upset. But Gauff battled back even when finding herself down 3-2 in the second, and went on to win the next 10 games to seal victory.
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Gauff is clearly a huge Bieber fan, and she isn’t alone in admiring the global pop star. The 19-year-old revealed on the court after the match that she’s already used to digging deep and winning from losing positions but later admitted that there was another reason behind her comeback.
Speaking to ESPN after the match, Gauff was asked if she saw which celebrities were in the crowd as a fresh list of A-listers made the trip to New York. “Oh yeah, I definitely saw who was there,” Gauff said.
“I was like, ‘Wow Justin Bieber here’ and at that point, I was 3-2 down in the second set and I was like, ‘I cannot lose with Justin here.’ I mean, I didn’t lose a game after I saw that!
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“Jimmy Buckets (Butler) was there too, it was a cool atmosphere. I have an external focus, so I do like to look in the crowd sometimes because that’s what I do at practice. I definitely noticed [Bieber] was at the match tonight. At first, I got a little tight when I first saw him. Then I reminded myself that President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama were at my first round.
“I’m like, this is so hype. I mean, I’m really fangirling right now. Oh my goodness. Shout out to Justin. And I saw Hailey [Bieber] was there too. Let’s not forget, so it was really cool. It’s just really cool to be in this moment and I hope that I can keep going further and further.”
Gauff now faces a tough match against Caroline Wozniacki, who has been unstoppable since returning to the US Open after taking a career break to have children. It’s a clash of different eras as Wozniacki was a former World No. 1, and Gauff is still right at the start of what looks to be a very successful career.
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