Coco Gauff, 18, reaches US Open quarter-finals for 1st time

New York: 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, Zhang Shuai, covered both ears with her hands to shield them from what she described later as a Boom! of sound.

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 China's Zhang 7-5, 7-5 on Sunday to become the youngest American to make it this far at the U.S. Open since Melanie Oudin was 17 in 2009.

Here, I can't hear myself scream. Makes me want to do it more. I think I'm feeding off the momentum a lot. I enjoy it, said No. 12 seed Gauff, who meets No. 17 Caroline Garcia of France on Tuesday.

New York is bringing out a side of me that I haven't had since I was 15, so it's nice.

Nick Kyrgios is playing much better than he ever has at Flushing Meadows, too, building off the momentum of his run to the Wimbledon final in July, and he eliminated defending champion and No. 1-ranked Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday night. The 23rd-seeded Kyrgios was up to some of his usual behavior warned for cursing, yelling at his guest box, playing to the crowd but he also outplayed Medvedev in a high-quality match.

I'm just glad I'm finally able to show New York my talent, said Kyrgios, never past the third round at the US Open until now. I haven't had too many great trips here.