Gauff keeps U.S. Open women's title defence alive in comeback fashion against Svitolina

Coco Gauff turned things around after being a set down and beat Elina Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the U.S. Open's third round on Friday, extending the 20-year-old American's defence of her first Grand Slam title.

The third-seeded Gauff made mistake after mistake in the first set at Arthur Ashe Stadium and dropped its last 11 points against the 27th-seeded Svitolina, a three-time major semifinalist.

"She's a fighter," Gauff said from New York. "I knew I had to play my best."

But Gauff managed to reel off nine of 11 games in one stretch and won despite losing the opening set, something she did three times en route to winning the 2023 trophy at the U.S. Open, including in the final against Aryna Sabalenka.

The secret this time?

"I tried to be more aggressive on my forehand side," Gauff said, "and tried to make less errors on the backhand."

Sounds simple enough, right?

By the conclusion of one set, Gauff's totals were 16 unforced errors — nine on backhands — and just seven winners. She put only 45 per cent of her first serves in. She went 0-for-3 on break points. She allowed Svitolina to claim 19 of the 28 points that lasted more than four strokes.

All of those numbers got better across the last two sets. And something else changed, at the behest of her coaches: Gauff got the partisan crowd more involved.

"My team was kind of like telling me that (the fans) were on the edge of their seats," Gauff explained. "So I said, 'OK, I need to erupt so you guys can erupt."'

This comeback ends a five-match losing streak for Gauff against opponents ranked in the top 50 and might be just what she needs to move past a recent slump that saw her win just five of her previous nine matches.

Such a contrast to a year ago, when Gauff won 18 of