During Coco Gauff’s 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 second-round US Open victory over Donna Vekic on Thursday, Gauff found inspiration from a familiar face in the stands: seven-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles.

Gauff had just concluded a grueling first set where she recorded seven double faults and lost four of her six service games. It led to tears after going down 5-4, but Gauff bounced back to win the set — and match — before crediting Biles for her victory. Gauff saw Biles in the stands while the Olympian was being interviewed by ESPN.

“I saw her and honestly I don’t know if she’s up there,” Gauff said. “But she helped me pull it out. I was just thinking if she can go on a 6-inch beam and do that with all the pressures in the world then I can hit the ball. … It brought me a little bit of calm.”

After the match, the two met, and Gauff thanked Biles for coming. Gauff even FaceTimed her mom so Biles could say hi, then took a screenshot of the three.

“Like seriously, what I said in the interview, I was thinking about that literally,” said Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion.

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Biles responded.

Biles had similar praise for Gauff while being interviewed during the match, admitting that “obviously” Gauff was the reason she was back watching the US Open after coming for the first time last year.

Simone Biles loves watching Coco Gauff’s grace and humility on and off the court 👏 pic.twitter.com/kRjaibnHZS

— ESPN (@espn) August 29, 2025

The No. 3-seeded Gauff will face No. 28-seeded Magdalena Frech in the third round Saturday.