Key events
Belinda Bencic is pressing hard against Coco Gauff. This eleventh game of the set has again gone to deuce and, with Bencic ripping a backhand return to win advantage, Gauff has to conjur her fastest serve of the match – 189kph – to win back parity. She fritters it by netting the next but quickly regains composure with an ace. Or does she? A double fault puts her back in the hole. That’s her second double fault for the set…
Oh dear, make that her third. A second straight double fault delivers Bencic the break. The Swiss will now serve for the set at 6-5.
Just when Belinda Bencic looked to have an upset brewing on Rod Laver Arena, Coco Gauff breaks back! That was wonderful stuff by the young American. The Swiss star was starting to win the grind, converting 55% of her second serves to Gauff’s 40%. But Gauff upped the ante in that game and lashed two explosive backhands from 30-all to win the game. We are 5-5 in the first set and back on serve.
In the other women’s singles match on Margaret Court Arena, Spain’s No 11 seed Paula Badosa has won her first service game against Serbia’s Olga Danilovic.
Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
Now it’s Coco Gauff under pressure! Down 30-40 she has to scythe a backhand crosscourt to save deuce. She gets advantage with a delicate drop shot but loses it with a lazy mid-court forehand into the net. Belinda Bencic does the same to concede advantage but wins the next by pounding a return down the line. What a shot!
The two players walk the tightrope, trading winners and errors to take it to a fourth deuce and make this the longest game of the set so far. Bencic swoops on a drop shot to lash it into the corner and advances on Gauff’s reply to take advantage. She presses on the next, pinning Gauff on the baseline and forcing a looped forehand that falls long.
Bencic has the break and will serve for the set at 5-4!
Bencic hangs on again, fighting back from 0-30 to hold serve and take this first set to 4-4. The Swiss is in good form and Gauff senses she is is in a real fight here.
Coco Gauff is yet to drop a first serve in this first set of this fourth round encounter. The 2023 US Open champion – a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park last year – now leads 4-3 and is turning up the heat on Belinda Bencic who was taken to deuce in her last service game and only narrowly avoided being broken.
It’s punch for punch and still on serve in the first set of the Coco Gauff v Belinda Bencic clash on Rod Laver Arena. Gauff has had an impressive start to 2025, winning eight matches and 16 sets straight. She takes a 3-2 lead here.
The 27-year-old Bencic is no easybeat. She may be unseeded at this Australian Open but the Swiss star rose to a career-high ranking of world No 4 in February 2020 and has won eight career singles titles, including the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The fourth round clash between America’s No 3 seed Coco Gauff and unseeded Swiss veteran Belinda Bencic is under way, with Gauff serving first in 32C heat.
Gauff is yet to drop a set at this tournament and early signs are good as the 20-year-old wins the first game to love with an on-song serve doing the damage.
While Team GB fans await the Draper v Alcaraz monster match this evening, they can lick their wounds over yesterday’s 6-1, 6-0 demolition of women’s singles hope Emma Radacanu by Iga Swiatek in their third round clash. It was the heaviest defeat of the young Briton’s career but, despite the setback, she showed the class we love her for.
As we await the arrival of America’s No 3 seed Coco Gauff – who will fight it out on Rod Laver Arena with Switzerland’s unseeded veteran Belinda Bencic – let’s prime ourselves for the big men’s singles showdown tonight: Jack Draper v Carlos Alcaraz.
That round four victory over Mirra Andreeva makes it 18 wins in a row for Aryna Sabalenka at Melbourne Park. She has now reached the most women’s singles quarter finals (10) at grand slam events since 2020.
Aryna Sabalenka beats Mirra Andreeva 6-1, 6-2
And just like that, the two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka is into the quarter finals. What a clinical destruction it was. Ultimately, the No 1 seed conceded just three games to her young opponent Mirra Andreeva, cleaning her clock inside an hour and marching into another Australian Open final eight.
If Sabalenka’s rivals in this tournament weren’t already frightened… they are now.
Aryna Sabalenka is in for the kill. After losing the opening point of the seventh game, she chastised herself, went within and unleashed an explosive return that drew gasps from this near-capacity crowd. It was a shot that hurt Andreeva beyond the scoreboard. Shaken, the Russian teenager double faulted on the next and the defending champion takes the next two points with ease.
Sabalenka will now serve for the match and a spot in the quarter final.
Three break point opportunities and four deuces later, Mirra Andreeva has failed in her first genuine chance to break Aryna Sabalenka. Again, despite the teenager returning with precision, she’s undone by the guile of her older rival, a drop shot sealing it.
Sabalenka retains the break advantage and now leads this match 6-1, 4-2.
Over on Margaret Court Arena, the Italian stallions Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori have Spanish pair Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar on the rack after taking the first 6-3 in their third round game.
Mirra Andreeva has her first break point of the game against Aryna Sabalenka in the round of 16 women’s singles match on centre court. Can she convert?
Andreeva strikes back! Sabalenka was going for the throat in that game, pummelling returns in a bid to break the teenager a second time. Instead Andreeva stayed calm and made it five points in a row to get things back to 3-2 in the second set. That was the Russian’s best game of the match so far. Is it a turning point?
Double trouble for Mirra Andreeva. She has lost her second serving game and is unravelling on Rod Laver Arena with even foot faults creeping in.
Two unforced errors gift Aryna Sabalenka an early 30-0 lead in this fourth game of the second set but swinging big for the corners, she gets things back to 30-30. Sabalenka, serving at 72%, crashes a second serve to get to 40-30 but Andreeva hangs tough, a looping return eluding Sabalenka’s backhand.
But just when the teenager forces the longest game of the match so far, she sends two returns wide to concede the game. Sabalenka leads 6-1, 3-1.
Where to now for Mirra Andreeva? She was mauled in that first set and must change things up and start swinging for the fences if she’s to trouble Sabalenka. Showing composure, Andreeva serves out the first game – a nice start. Can she go on with it?
With utter ruthlessness Aryna Sabalenka takes the first set 6-1.
That set was a 24-minute demolition of Mirra Andreeva and the 17 year old will have to find something very special if she’s to fight her way into this match.
Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
Oh no. Mirra Andreeva has been broken again on centre court. She’s now 5-1 down after just 20 minutes. Aryna Sabalenka has served up a potent brew of power and finesse to completely overwhelm her teenage rival so far. On the final shot of this game, a flurry of bludgeoning baseline shots softened Andreeva up before the No 1 brought the velvet hammer down with a sublime drop shot.
The 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva is under early pressure after losing an early break to Aryna Sabalenka who has defied crowd distractions and even a low-flying airplane to surge to a 4-1 lead. The No 1 seed has dropped only one point so far.
No 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka and No 14 Mirra Andreeva are into it on Rod Laver Arena. Servers are dominating so far with both players winning their opening games to love and Sabalenka just taking the second to lead 2-1 in the first set.
Preamble
Hello tennis fans and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the 2025 Australian Open. Angus Fontaine here guiding you through the early follies and volleys before Jonathan Howcroft picks up the cudgels in the afternoon session.
We are into round four and the action is heating up. Temperatures are set to reach 30C+ in Melbourne today and the first stars into the pressure cooker of Rod Laver Arena will be the No 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka taking on 17-year-old sensation Mirra Andreeva (seeded 14). That match commences shortly.
That tussle will be followed by another women’s single showdown when America’s No 3 seed Coco Gauff’s clashes with Switzerland’s unseeded veteran Belinda Bencic.
Our death in the afternoon duel today is between Great Britain’s No 15 seed Jack Draper and Spain’s smiling assassin Carlos Alcaraz, seeded No 3 and popular favourite to take the men’s singles title this year.
The night arrives in style with No 7 seed Novak Djokovic taking on Czech Republic’s No 24 seed Jiri Lehecka. On the doubles court Australian hopes will rest with Luke Saville and Li Tu who face off with the pair of Goransson and Verbeek.
There’s doubles about to get under way on Margaret Court Arena too so buckle ‘em up and batten ‘em down, we’re about to light the fuse on day eight…
