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Earlier this year, Coco Gauff captured the second Grand Slam title of her tennis career when she won the French Open. But in the tournaments that followed, the 21-year-old has consistently struggled with her serve and battled with herself on the court. It led to a stunning first-round exit at Wimbledon in July as the No. 2 seed. 

Gauff saw those issues bubble back up in her first-round match in New York this week when she went three sets with Ajla Tomlijanovic. Then on Thursday, things took another tough turn at the US Open when she faced off with Donna Vekic in the second round.

Gauff committed eight double-faults, and was visibly emotional amid those struggles. Ultimately, Gauff did enough to overcome those shortcomings and eliminated Vekic (7-6(5), 6-2) to advance.

At one point, Gauff missed two consecutive serves and started to tear up. She ended up covering her face with a towel on the sideline before returning to the court.

"I just show people what it's like to be a human, and I have bad days, but I think it's more about how you get up after those bad moments and how you show up after that," Gauff said following the match. "I think today I showed that I can get up after feeling the worst I've ever felt on the court."

Gauff has struggled with double-faults in recent months as she leads the WTA with over 300 this season. She recorded 10 double-faults against Tomljanovic. Gauff also committed a staggering 16 double-faults in a quarterfinal match against Jasmine Paolini at the Cincinnati Open earlier this month.

In an attempt to correct her serving issues, Gauff hired biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan, who helped No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka fix her serve in the past, prior to the US Open.

"The biggest challenge is just changing the motion and changing everything before such a big tournament for me," Gauff said. "This is one of the most nervous tournaments for me in general, and on top of all this, it's a lot."

She also pointed out that she let her nerves get the best of her in Thursday's second-round match.

"It was just nerves and just pressure, honestly, and I'm someone that usually can thrive on that. There's been a lot on me this tournament, more than usual, which I expected coming in," Gauff added. "Basically, what you saw out there was what it was, and I was able to reset through it. But it was a challenging moment for me on the court. It's been a tough couple of weeks on and off the court, but I'm just happy to get through it today."

Gauff had her serve broken four times and registered seven double-faults in the first set alone. However, she was able to find her composure in the second set as she tallied zero service breaks and just a single double-fault. 

Gauff wasn't the only one that struggled with double-faults in Thursday's showdown. Vekic also recorded 10 double-faults of her own in the loss.

With Thursday's win, Gauff moves on to face No. 28 Magdalena Frech, who defeated American Peyton Stearns (6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2) to advance to the third round.