Coco Gauff came through a gruelling three-setter against Ajla Tomljanovic to reach the second round of the US Open.

The 2023 champion went through the mire against the Australian, ultimately winning 6-4 6-7 (2) 7-5 in a three-hour slugfest.

Gauff made a total of 10 double faults and was left to rue several missed opportunities before eventually getting the job done.

She said: “Yeah, it was a tough match. I had chances for it to be straight sets. Ajla was tough. It wasn’t the best, but I’m happy to get through to the next round.”

“I had so many chances and [I knew] eventually it was going to come. I had chances to close out in two, I had chances to go up a double break so many times, so yeah I was just like ‘eventually one of these are going to go my way and it ended up happening.”

It has been a tumultuous build-up to Gauff’s home Grand Slam, shaking up her coaching team with the arrival of Gavin MacMillan in a bid to fix some serving issues.

Speaking about the upheaval, she added: “Honestly, it’s been really tough, mentally exhausting. But I’m trying. It wasn’t the best today, but it was an improvement on last week [in Cincinnati]; I’m just trying to improve with each match.”

Gauff knew she was in for a real battle after Tomljanovic broke her in the opening game and raced into a 3-1 lead.

The American brought the match back on serve at 3-3, before moving a break up to take the opener at 6-4.

This topsy-turvy match took plenty of twists in the second set, with a break of serve for both players inside the opening three games.

Tomljanovic squandered two set points at 5-4, before being broken for a third time in a second set that went to a tie-break.

The world No. 79 convincingly prevailed 7-2 to set up a decider, which provided even more drama before Gauff eventually came through.

Gauff shaded the early exchanges of a break-heavy third set, and it looked like she had pulled clear at 5-4 and serving for the match.

But after two consecutive double faults, she was broken again at 5-5 – before swiftly restoring her advantage and holding her serve to clinch the decider.

Osaka progresses past Minnen

Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka managed to find her way past Greet Minnen in straight sets, with a 6-3 6-4 win.

Osaka took a mere one hour and 24 minutes to book her place in round two, with what was her 50th women’s singles match victory at a hard-court Grand Slam.

The four-time major winner has now won 10 of her last 13 matches, following on her run to the Canadian Open final.

Despite the convincing nature of the win, Osaka admits there was still room for improvement.

She said: “I think, honestly, I could have had a better attitude. Like, I was just very stressed. It was the first round, and this tournament means a lot to me. I really wanted to win.

“I wish I thought more about the process rather than the result, but I’m glad I was able to win.”

Minnen was determined not to make things easy for the former world No. 1, breaking back at 2-2 in the opener, but it was relatively plain sailing for Osaka from that point onwards.

She broke the Belgian twice more to take the opener 6-3, and claimed an early break to move 2-0 up in the second.

Minnen then broke back after a mammoth third game that went to deuce six times, but Osaka managed to get the job done in two sets.

She took two more breaks and wrapped up the second set 6-4 to set up a clash with American Hailey Baptiste in the next round.

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