Coco Gauff said the presence of Olympic gymnastics legend Simone Biles at courtside helped her through the worst experience of her tennis career as she battled to a tearful US Open victory over Donna Vekic on Thursday.

Seven-time Olympic gold medallist Biles was among the crowd at the Arthur Ashe Stadium as third seed Gauff suffered an error-strewn public unravelling that left her sobbing into her towel at one point in a calamitous first set.

But the 21-year-old American clawed her way through that nadir and regrouped to complete a 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 victory to advance to the third round.

Gauff later revealed that the sight of Biles, who withdrew from several events at the Tokyo Olympics to prioritise her mental health, before making a triumphant comeback at last year’s Paris Games, had ins

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