Coco Gauff defeated Naomi Osaka in straight sets on Thursday night to advance to the quarterfinals at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose.
Gauff’s 6-4, 6-4 victory evened the series with Osaka at two wins apiece.
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After pocketing the first set in 45 minutes, the American raced to a 5-1 lead in the second.
But Osaka saved four match points in the seventh game and struck her first ace of the match to make it 5-2.
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Osaka then broke Gauff for the first time in the match and overcame another 40-0 deficit with five straight points for 5-4. But Gauff closed it out on her eighth match point with an unreturnable serve.
“The most proud was how I responded mentally,” Gauff said.
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“I could have easily folded in those couple of double faults and match points that I lost. But I kept telling myself, ‘Another point, another chance,’ and then the music kind of helped on the bench.
“I was trying to sing along to the song to get me out of the match.”
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The teenager will face No. 2 seed Paula Badosa on Friday.
Shelby Rogers and No. 4 seed Aryna Sabalenka also won their respective matches on Thursday.
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Rogers beat top-seeded Maria Sakkari 6-1, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals for the third time this season.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka came back from trailing 5-3 in the third set to edge Caroline Dolehide 5-7, 6-1, 7-5.
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The Belarusian overcame 20 double faults in the match to advance to play No. 7 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia.
