Gauff wins second round match against Maria at the US Open

Before every game, Coco Gauff listens to the same song: “Icon” by Jaden Smith.

The chorus refers to Gauff’s meteoric rise since her victory at the US Open last year. “I’m just a living icon.”

Gauff still has a lot of work to do to achieve that goal, but she showed poise in her 6-4, 6-0 second-round win over Germany’s Tatjana Maria at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday.

The 80-minute match was not as easy as Monday’s opening match, when Gauff, ranked No. 3 in the world, dropped just two games. Her first serve on Wednesday was less reliable, with only 44% of them staying in play.

Gauff made nine double faults, including seven in the first set, as part of 20 unforced errors. Too often her serve landed in the net instead of on Maria’s side.

But she led 5-4, overcame a 40-15 deficit in the next game and won the game and set, making it through the second set where she made just five unforced errors and overwhelmed Maria (ranked 99) with 15 winners to win her ninth consecutive US Open match.

“I think I played well,” Gauff said in an interview after the match on the court. “I could have served better, the first set would have been much easier.”

It also helped that Gauff had the crowd on her side. When one of her returns went out in the first set, a fan shouted “Come on, Coco,” followed by brief cheers.

Gauff has become a popular champion since the 20-year-old won the Open last September. Even a third-round loss at the Olympics did not change the support.

Her colleagues notice that Gauff has star qualities that are in no way inferior to her exceptional talent. One example of this is Ben Shelton, who also won his second-round match on Wednesday.

Shelton and Gauff, both black, were the two opening players at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday, and both considered it an honor to know what Ashe meant as the first black man to win the Open in 1968.

But Shelton also used the moment to reflect on what Gauff meant to the sport. It helped that her name was unique and memorable, but so did her personality.

“She’s charismatic, a great athlete with so many qualities on the court,” Shelton said. “The way she moves, the way she can defend. You just see something special and different about her.”

“Then of course she plays with a lot of passion. You can see that it’s important to her. She’s fully involved every time she’s on the pitch. I think that’s something that people love.”

Every fist pump Gauff made after winning a game was accompanied by louder cheers as the match progressed. When she won with a backhand return, the noise rained down as Gauff screamed, pumped her fist and turned her body in a semi-circle.

On Monday, she said she was able to play with peace of mind after a tough few weeks, which included the Olympics and losing her second match at the Canadian Open.

On Wednesday, she reiterated that she is trying to put less pressure on herself since her life changed a year ago.

“Last week I felt more pressure,” Gauff said on court, referring to her opening match loss at the Cincinnati Open. “(I have) nothing to lose. I’m 20 years old and I’ve already had one (US Open). I have the potential to achieve more, whether it happens now or in the future.”

Gauff seemed to take Jaden Smith’s words to heart. In the second verse of “Icon,” Smith says the lines “Now I’m focused and we ’bout to all blow up/We just tryna make to whole crowd go nuts.”

The crowd did indeed cheer for Gauff on Wednesday, but time will tell if Gauff will hear about it after the women’s final on September 7.