It didn’t seem like it was going to be Coco Gauff’s day.

The reigning US Open winner failed again in her third-round match against No. 27 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine at the Arthur Ashe Stadium at the start of the fifth day of the last Grand Slam of the year.

Her serve was again inconsistent and did not help her get off to a good start. In the first set, only 45 percent of Gauff’s first serves were in play, along with 16 unforced errors.

The world number three screamed and threw her hands in the air in frustration as she looked towards the players’ box for any sign of help.

However, she managed to string together a number of more effective serves in the second set and managed to rally the tense crowd around her, eventually winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in two hours and three minutes.

“It means a lot,” Gauff told ESPN after the win. “I knew it was going to be a tough match, every time I played Elina. I knew I had to play my best tennis. She’s a fighter… I served a lot better than the last match. Overall, I’m proud and thank you for bringing so much energy today.”

In the final set, Svitolina began to collapse, unable to keep up with Gauff’s newfound energy. Gauff sailed to a 4-1 set lead, finally finding the level she’d been searching for in this tournament and those hardcourt matches leading up to the Open.

However, Gauff gave Svitolina an opening in the eighth game, but he failed to close out the match with two double faults and a backhand winner from the Ukrainian, which led to deuce.

In the next game, Gauff managed to break Svitolina, who made an unnecessary mistake in the last action.

“I tried to be more aggressive on my forehand and make less mistakes on the backhand,” Gauff added. “I think the difference was just that I was more aggressive on the serve.”

Gauff and Svitolina previously faced each other in the final in Auckland in January this year. Gauff won in three sets, after losing the first to the 2019 US Open finalist.

On Friday, history seemed to repeat itself.

Gauff struggled to defend her service game effectively in the beginning.

She failed to convert any of her three breakpoint attempts and Svitolina kept forcing Gauff to keep hunting the baseline. The American made an unnecessary forehand error, which allowed Svitolina to take the lead in the first set.

It wasn’t until the sixth game of the second set that Gauff managed to break Svitolina, who also reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon this year. She had a forehand smash cross court winner followed by two forehand winners to break Svitolina and take a 4-2 lead.

Gauff, who had a 68 percent serve percentage on her first attempt, closed out the second set with a 94 mph ace to start her comeback.

If her compatriot Emma Navarro defeats number 19 Marta Kostyuk from Ukraine on Friday afternoon, there will be a revenge match in the round of 16 between Gauff and the 23-year-old in the fourth round at Wimbledon on Sunday.