CAMDEN — Gabby Brengle and her daughter, Madison, were both on the tennis court on Monday afternoon.

Only Gabby was teaching lessons at Caesar Rodney High while Madison was in New York playing a first-round match in the U.S. Open.

Gabby usually gets text updates when Madison is playing. But as the hours went by on Monday and nobody was texting, Gabby figured it must be bad news.

“I actually thought, nobody wants to be the one to tell me that she lost,” said Gabby. “Because I wasn’t getting anything. ... Then I got like 10 texts.”

The texts were telling Gabby that Madison had indeed won. The reason for the long delay was that the match lasted three hours, 21 minutes — a record for a women’s singles match at the U.S. Open.

But Gabby was at Madison’s second-round match on Wednesday, just like she’ll be courtside again today when Brengle plays a third-round match against Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.

The match will be the third of the day on the Grandstand court. The first matches start at 11 a.m.

Even though Madison reached the fourth round of the Australian Open earlier this year, her matches always have her mother on the edge of her seat. Gabby is also Madison’s coach.

“It doesn’t get old, believe me,” said Gabby, who was teaching again at CR on Thursday evening. “It’s such a thrill. It’s what you work so hard for.”

This is the farthest that Madison has advanced in the U.S. Open. Whenever the 25-year-old pro does well it’s exciting for the Kent County tennis community because of the Brengles connection to the sport.

The Brengles own and run Dover Indoor Tennis in the winter before moving outdoors to teach in the summer. Madison is a part of it, too, when she’s in town.

“It is a community thing,” said Gabby. “She taught at our camp this summer, when she’s here she works with our players. She hits with them.

“To all these guys, it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s Maddie.’ They see her often and it’s no big deal to them.”

Winning a third match in the U.S. Open won’t be easy for Brengle, of course.

She’s only played Kontaveit once with the 19-year-old downing Brengle, 6-1, 6-2, last June. Gabby has talked strategy with her daughter for the match.

“She’s nervous and excited,” Gabby said about Madison. “She knows how good this girl is. She can play. ... She (Madison) is going to try. It’ll be fun.”

Even though it’s taken Madison a little while to have this kind of success, Gabby doesn’t think of it as the pinnacle of her daughter’s career.

Gabby hopes the best is still yet to come.

“She still has a long way to go,” said Gabby. “She’s not content like, ‘Oh, this is it.’ She still wants to get better.”

Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at 741-8227 or walter@newszap.com.