US Open 2022 - Coco Gauff shows off 128 mph serve in second-round win

NEW YORK — Coco Gauff clocked the third-fastest serve on record in women's US Open history in her second-round win over Elena-Gabriela Ruse on Wednesday.

Gauff, 18, fired a serve of 128 mph in the fifth game of the first set — which Ruse was unable to return despite getting a racket on it. The record serve saved break point with Ruse at advantage at the time, with Gauff going on to close out the game on Arthur Ashe.

When asked about her serve by ESPN, Gauff first responded, «Wow!» She then added: «Yeah, I don't know how that happened. It didn't feel like I hit it that hard. Sometimes I feel like when you try to hit the serve hard, it still goes fast, but that was not supposed to be that hard.»

Gauff booked her spot in the third round thanks to a 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over Ruse, a triumph that included six aces and 22 unreturned serves.

Gauff's serve was the fastest of this year's US Open to date, and entered the history books behind Venus Williams' 129 mph serve in 2007, and Alycia Parks' effort at the same speed from 2021.

«I kind of looked at her after,» Gauff said of Ruse. «I hit, like, a couple good serves that game, like in the 120s. She was laughing at her box. I was like, I don't know what's going on either.»

The fastest serve in the women's game recognized by the WTA was Sabine Lasicki's 131 mph rocket from the 2014 Stanford Classic.