Gauff sets Osaka showdown at US Open

Pumping her fists and screaming “come on”, 15-year-old American sensation Coco Gauff became the youngest player to reach the US Open third round since 1996.

Proving her captivating run to the second week of Wimbledon last month was no fluke, Gauff scored a tough 6-2 4-6 6-4 win over Hungary’s Timea Babos on Thursday.

She will now meet No.1 seed and defending champion Naomi Osaka on Saturday.

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“This is just the beginning, I promise,” Gauff told an appreciative crowd that chanted her name at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

“I was tested a lot. I think we were both just testing each other. If I didn’t win that last point, maybe she would have won the match.”

The Floridian is putting together another captivating run, just like she did on the way to the fourth round at Wimbledon last month in her Grand Slam debut.

“She’s super sweet and I would love to play her, of course,” said Osaka, who beat Poland’s Magda Linette in straight sets earlier on Thursday. “For me, when I hear people talking about someone, I want to have the opportunity to play them just to assess it for myself.”

Gauff, meanwhile, did not want to talk about what will be the biggest test of her career, saying only: “I don’t have any thoughts right now. I am playing doubles tomorrow and on Saturday I am going to think about the match.”

Osaka, after struggling with nerves in her gruelling first-round match, was calm and collected as she smacked 13 winners to dispatch Linette.

After a one-sided first set, trouble brewed for the world No.1 when Linette raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second on a sun-soaked court.

But the 21-year-old Japanese kept her composure and battled back, hitting a deft volley on match point to seal the win before an adoring crowd that included former San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick and former Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant.