Coco Gauff has brilliantly navigated her way through to the round of 16 at the US Open this year.

The American has defeated Zeynep Sonmez, Paula Badosa, and Cristina Bucsa without dropping a set so far at her home Grand Slam.

She will next play Iva Jovic for a place in the quarter finals of the competition and she has become many players favourite to win the Grand Slam this year.

Martina Navratilova has been impressed with Gauff at Flushing Meadows so far and even suggested she has a distinct advantage of the rest of the draw as she looks to win the third Grand Slam title of her career.

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“It’s a hard one. Sabalenka, I think she’s the most, perhaps, fired up for this because she hasn’t won a major [this year] and usually she does, but Coco Gauff. I think she plays better under pressure than the rest of them [the draw],” said Navratilova on Sky Sports.

“Everyone else is a little more up and down, whereas Coco rises for it and here in New York she has consistently played well,” said the multi-time Grand Slam champion.

“And the crowd is going to go nuts for her as well. It’s like the known, unknown. She’s been through so much. She’s such a veteran, at such a young age.

“She just gets on with it, plays the next point, and if anything, it makes her even more dug in, to hit the backhand because the forehand can go off a little bit.

“She’s handled it well and she’s hitting both shots harder now, and consistently well, as she has all year, so I think she’s pulling her game together just in time.”

However, despite praising Gauff ahead of her round of 16 match against Jovic, Navratilova eventually opted to pick Sabalenka as her favourite to win the US Open.

Sabalenka has won the past two US Open titles, but Gauff does have previous at Flushing Meadows, having lifted the title back in 2023.

Gauff and Sabalenka, along with Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula, are currently locked in a battle to become the world No 1 on the WTA Tour.

Sabalenka needs to defend her title in order to keep hold of her world No 1 status, while Gauff and Pegula will likely need to do the same to reach the summit.

Rybakina, meanwhile, will become the world No 1 as long as Sabalenka, Pegula, or Gauff don’t lift the title at Flushing Meadows, although that is looking unlikely as all three are still in the competition at the round of 16 stage.