Social media, as professional tennis players will attest, can often prove to be a toxic environment. Happily, there are exceptions.

The week before she began her defence of the US Open title, Coco Gauff got some valuable advice.

“Somebody commented on my TikTok,” Gauff explained. “And the comment said, ‘Why stress yourself out over it — you’ve won literally and figuratively. Why stress yourself out over a victory lap?’

“I was, like, ‘I’m going to stick by that and use that,’ because it really changed my perspective coming into this.”

That new attitude manifested itself on Friday after Gauff lost the opening set to No.27-seeded Elina Svitolina. The 20-year-old rallied to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium for her 60th grand slam match win.

The American saved five of seven break points, which helped compensate for 21 winners and 35 unforced errors.

On Thursday, Czech Karolina Muchova delivered a flawless display of serve-and-volley tennis to knock twice champion Naomi Osaka
out with a 6-3, 7-6(5) second-round victory.

Muchova enjoyed the best season of her career last year before a wrist injury sidelined her for 10 months, but she looked back to her best at Arthur Ashe Stadium as she set up a third-round meeting with unseeded Russian Anastasia Potapova.

“It’s a little rough because I do take these losses really personally. It’s like a dramatic word, but I feel like my
heart dies every time I lose,” Osaka said.

Iga Swiatek made quick work of Japanese qualifier Ena Shibahara in a 6-0, 6-1 victory in the second round to underline her title credentials at the US Open.

Swiatek survived a slight scare in the first round when she committed a slew of unforced errors before sealing a hard-fought victory over Russian Kamilla Rakhimova, but against Shibahara, she was clinical and swatted her Japanese opponent aside in just over an hour.

“I’m playing, you know, not overpowering (tennis), but trying to be really solid and picking the right shots and being proactive. I’m happy with everything,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview.

The Pole served with real accuracy in the first set, winning 89 per cent of points on her first serve and converting three out of four break point opportunities to race into the lead against a frustrated Shibahara, who had no answers.

Japan’s Shibahara, ranked outside the top 200 and in her first singles grand glam main draw, tried to turn things around in the second set and defended three break points in a marathon service game to hold for 1-1 and avoid the dreaded ‘double bagel’.

Italian Jasmine Paolini, played just three points before advancing when Karolina Pliskova appeared to injure her left foot. Other women’s winners included No. 6 Jessica Pegula, No. 15 Anna Kalinskaya, No. 16 Liudmilla Samsonova and No. 18 Diana Shnaider. Pegula took out fellow-American Sofia Kenin.

Medvedev on track

Former champion Daniil Medvedev was far from his best but still did enough to dispatch Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 6-2, 7-6(5).

Medvedev won an opening set that included six breaks of serve across nine games, with the Hungarian’s serve failing to pack a punch and the Russian’s uncharacteristically tentative serving leading to four double faults.

Medvedev was far more comfortable from there, helped by his opponent’s 45 unforced errors and catalogue of poorly-timed drop shots.

Medvedev sealed victory with a leaping backhand on match point.

No. 7 seed Hurbert Hurkacz was eliminated in straight sets by Jordan Thompson,
and No. 16 Sebastian Korda was knocked out by Tomas Machac.

Having broken the record for the longest match in US Open history with his five-set epic on Tuesday, Dan Evans might have been expected to limp onto the court swathed in bandages for his second-round meeting with Mariano Navone. Far from it. He came out bright and breezy, scoring a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 victory in just over two-and-a-half hours.