WHAT HAPPENED: Youth won the day on Sunday.
The doubles team of American teen sensations Coco Gauff and Catherine "Caty" McNally knocked out the veteran pair of Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke, 6-3, 7-6, in a second-round battle.
In a dramatic tiebreak, the young Americans survived three set points from last year’s Wimbledon finalists and No. 9 seeds, to claim victory on the second match point 11-9 when Peschke sailed a forehand over the baseline.
Filled to the last row, the Louis Armstrong Stadiums fans rose to their feet for a standing ovation as 15-year-old Gauff and 17-year-old McNally hugged.
Moments later, the pair were on court for the post-match interview with ESPN’s Mary Joe Fernandez and this time Gauff was all smiles—a nice change of emotions for the charismatic teen who broke out in tears during her interview Saturday night after losing to defending champion Naomi Osaka in singles.
“It’s amazing,” said Gauff, who exploded onto the tennis scene by beating Venus Williams at Wimbledon this year and went on to reach the fourth round.
On paper, 26-year-old Melichar of the United States and 44-year-old Peschke of Czechoslovakia had seniority, experience and a more impressive record than the teens. Together as a team for the better part of the last two years, they reached the Wimbledon final in 2018 and won a total of four WTA Tour titles.
The American teens had won their only previous tournament as a team in Washington, D.C., this summer.
The match built to a crescendo in the tiebreak. Melichar held the first advantage, serving at 5-3. But she dropped her next serve and Gauff powered in two serves to hold to get to 6-5 and the team’s first match point. Gauff missed the next service return.
In the next stretch of six points, Melichar and Peschke had three set points. However, they failed to convert. A McNally overhead winner made it 10-9 and Gauff and McNally took the victory on a Peschke error.
The parity in the match was reflected on the stat sheet. Both teams had 29 winners and 14 errors.
WHAT IT MEANS: Coco-mania will continue for at least another day, but it won’t get any easier for the teens as they next meet the very formidable No. 8 seed team of Victoria Azarenka and Ashleigh Barty, the reigning Italian Open champions.
MATCH POINT: An all-American team has not won the US Open crown since Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in 2011.
