Defending champion Gauff played a wrong third round at the China Open, saying “I did the victory I needed to do” against Fernandez.
She ended up winning a close encounter in three sets -6-4 4-6 7-5 – but her serving problem made the U.S. second seed cry at the U.S. Open.
The 21-year-old two-time Grand Slam champion made nine double faults and broke seven times in the game.
Both players struggled with servings, with 15 breaks in total, including eight games in the final set – 3 in the Gauff’s serves and 5 in Fernandez’s.
Gauff had two matches 5-2 until both were broken by Canada’s World Ranking 25, but she gathered herself 5-5, straight behind and eventually got the game, and won the second match point.
“It’s very physical, we walked back and forth,” Goff said in her stadium interview.
“Obviously, I played a good third set. I knew I could have done better, but I did what I won today.”
Gauff will now face Switzerland’s 15th seed Belinda Bencic or Australia’s Priscilla Hon in the last 16 events of the WTA 1000 event.
