Coco Gauff battled into the third round of the US Open on Thursday with a straight sets victory over Spain's Paula Badosa. Gauff advanced to a meeting with another Spaniard, Cristina Bucsa, after powering past Badosa 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in just under two hours. The 22-year-old American star, who is chasing a repeat of her 2023 US Open victory, had lost five of her eight previous meetings with Badosa. But Gauff never looked like letting their latest encounter slip with a largely confident performance to open the Arthur Ashe Stadium evening session. "Obviously, you know, I would prefer maybe not to play somebody I've lost to so many times second round. But I think today was a big confidence booster. "And I think getting through in straight sets too makes a big difference. Yes, I was battle-tested, but I think it was a good battle where I wasn't out on the court for three hours." After a steady start, the American broke Badosa in the seventh game of the opening set when the 28-year-old Manhattan-born Spaniard fluffed a risky drop shot into the net. Gauff held serve to love to go 5-3 up before comfortably clinching the set with another rock-solid service game. Gauff looked to be ready to take control early in the second set, when Badosa was broken in the third game -- again attempting a delicate drop volley which fell short. Badosa though broke back to knot the set at 4-4 and then held off two break points to move into a 5-4 lead. After Gauff levelled to make it 5-5, the two women swapped breaks of serve to set up the tie break, with Gauff sealing victory on her second match point when Badosa smacked a backhand long. Gauff, whose game was in disarray this time last year, said she feels more at ease now in pressure moments of a match. "I definitely feel more comfortable, especially on the serving end of things," she said. "I mean, she broke me two times, one time serving for it. I wasn't too upset. I was, like, I don't think I could have served that much better. "So I think that's the part of my game where I feel less pressure and I know I can get a big serve in when I need to. It's just about if my opponent responds, and she did.
