Gauff the darling of New York as raucous crowd roars teen to glory

Coco Gauff raised a fist, then wagged her right index finger, responding to, and riling up even more, a loud-louder-loudest Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd that was standing and screaming. Gauff's US Open opponent, China's Zhang Shuai, covered both ears with her hands.

Gauff and her fans were reacting excitedly to quite a point, one in which the 18-year-old Floridian raced to her right for a defensive forehand, then changed directions to sprint and slide into a backhand that drew a netted volley from Zhang. Just four points later, Gauff was a quarterfinalist at Flushing Meadows for the first time.

Gauff, the French Open runner-up in June, came back in each set to beat Zhang 7-5, 7-5 on Sunday to become the youngest American to make it this far at the US Open since Melanie Oudin was 17 in 2009.