Coco Gauff continues to attack the lofty expectations hanging over her 18-year-old head.

The No. 12-seeded American rallied from a 3-5 deficit in the second set to force a tiebreaker before ultimately defeating Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-2, 7-6 (4) to advance to the third round of the U.S. Open on Wednesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Now the second-youngest player left in the women’s draw, Gauff is set to face Madison Keys in a gripping all-American clash Friday night.

“I played her at Wimbledon, it was a tough three-set battle, I knew it was going to be another tough battle today,” she said after the match. “The set points, I was just saying, ‘Get the ball on the court.’ I got lucky. She double-faulted on one of them. That was a little bit of luck.

“Other than that, I’m super happy with my performance today. I know the next match will be tough, but I’m looking forward to it.”

After cruising to a first-set victory, Gauff stumbled a bit through the first few points of the second. With Ruse serving at 40-15, Gauff suddenly shifted into another gear and turned up the pressure. She utilized her impressive mobility and covered every square inch of the court, leaving no areas vulnerable.

During the longest rally of the game at 22 strokes, Gauff unleashed a lethal backhand crossing shot for a winner that had her clenching her fist with fury. Ruse then double-faulted to make it five-all. Even though it went to a tiebreaker, Gauff capitalized on the big points and didn’t leave much room for excitement.

Gauff, sporting her own multicolored signature New Balance sneakers, landed a massive backhand during the final point to secure her 32nd victory of 2022.

“I think it’s all about momentum,” said Gauff, who dominated her first-round opponent, France’s Leolia Jeanjean, 6-2, 6-3 in her first career win on Ashe earlier this week. “I think in some parts of the match I was being too aggressive. It’s all about finding the balance. Gabby, she’s an aggressive player. Sometimes it’s not on purpose being passive. Sometimes she just hits the ball really well so I just have to play defense.”

After putting forth a strong service game in the first round — hitting eight aces, winning 91 percent of her first-serve points and never facing a single breakpoint — Gauff had an above-average encore in the category. She blasted five aces and won 67 percent of her first-serve points.

In the first set, Gauff hit a serve 128 miles per hour.

“Wow,” Gauff said with an expressive whistle. “I don’t know, I’m not going for the fastest serve, to be honest. Sometimes I say, ‘Go hard body.’ I did see the serve clock afterwards. I did see it said 128. I looked at it and I was like, ‘Whoa.’ I don’t know how that happened.

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“I kind of looked at her after. I hit a couple good serves that game, like in the 120s. She was laughing at her box. I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on either.’

Keys narrowly escaped a tight match against Camila Giorgi, emerging with a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (10-7) victory to advance. The two met for the first time back in January, when Keys bested Gauff in three sets to advance to the final of the Adelaide International.

In acknowledging what an aggressive player Keys is, Gauff said she learned a lot from their last match, but added that she’s in a much better head space than she was back then. She’s playing confident tennis now, Gauff said, so Keys may face a different version of the young star.