Serena Williams is prepared to spend a quiet Saturday night in New York, curled up with a bit of Coco.

Like everyone else following the U.S. Open this week, even Serena is caught up in Coco Fever. And yes, she plans to watch Saturday night’s marquee match between 15-year-old sensation Coco Gauff and top-seeded defending champion Naomi Osaka.

“I definitely think it’s the future of women’s tennis,” the eighth-seeded Williams said Friday after winning her third-round match — 6-3, 6-2 — over Karolina Muchova. “I’m really excited to just be a fan girl and kind of watch.”

The 37-year-old Williams, of course, is now four wins from history and her elusive 24th career Grand Slam title, which would tie Margaret Court’s all-time record. She will face No. 22 Petra Martic in the fourth round on Sunday.

While Williams was overpowering the 44th-ranked Muchova at Arthur Ashe Stadium — despite seven double faults and just five aces — there also was as much buzz on the outer courts, with an overflow crowd at Court 5 watching Gauff play a doubles match alongside playing partner Caty McNally. Williams needed three sets to dispatch McNally, another teenaged American, in the second round.

Gauff broke through with a Round of 16 finish at Wimbledon earlier this summer, and the wild-card entry had the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd behind her in a three-set win Wednesday over Timea Babos.

The 21-year-old Osaka defeated Williams in the 2018 U.S. Open final for her first career Grand Slam title.

“I think it will be a really interesting match. I definitely am interested to watch,” said Williams, who was docked a game in that match against Osaka after arguing with the chair umpire and calling him a thief. “I think it’s super exciting tennis. Coco is obviously much, much younger than Naomi, if you could say that, because Naomi is incredibly young. But it’s shocking to say that Coco is about six years younger.

“I think she’s really pretty cool. I love her excitement on the court. I don’t know what everyone else thinks. I can only tell you what I think. I’m a big fan of hers. I have said that since Day One. I love her parents. I think she has a good family, and I think it starts there. It makes for a great athlete and a great person. I think anyone at 15 playing like that, people are going to be drawn to them. I think that’s pretty awesome.”