A tearful Coco Gauff battled through another shaky performance to defeat Croatia`s Donna Vekic and reach the third round of the US Open on Thursday. Third seed Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion, could be seen sobbing into her towel at times during an error-strewn first set before clinching a 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 victory. 

Gauff`s preparations for the US Open were thrown into disarray just days before the tournament when she shook up her coaching team and brought in a new biomechanics coach to help improve her serve. But after an erratic first round win, when she finished with a whopping 59 unforced errors and 10 double faults, Gauff once again found the going tough in Thursday`s assignment on the Arthur Ashe Stadium main court. 

The 21-year-old American was broken four times in the first set and looked distraught as she struggled to get to grips with her game. But she regrouped after winning a first set tie-break, and did not drop her serve in the second set to clinch victory. Afterwards, Gauff choked back tears during her on-court interview as she thanked the home crowd for willing her to victory.