January 18, 2025, 9:25 PM ET
MELBOURNE, Australia — Coco Gauff’s set streak came to an end at the Australian Open. Her bid for a second Grand Slam title continued Sunday with a come-from-behind 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Belinda Bencic in the fourth round.
Gauff, a 20-year-old from Florida, won the 2023 U.S. Open as a teenager and has collected all 16 sets played this year and 24 of the past 25 sets from the end of last season, including included a title at the US Open. WTA final.
But the tournament’s No. 3 seed didn’t have enough control over his shot at the start of his match against Bencic at Rod Laver Arena in a muggy early afternoon, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees and sunlight shining on the blue playing surface. Ta.
Spectators seated along the sides of the court fanned. Gauff sought relief from the cool air provided on the players’ sideline benches.
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Trouble increased late in the first set, with Bencic breaking each of Gauff’s last two service games, one of which ended with two double faults, but the American continued to miss the mark and served 20 An unforced error was recorded.
When her shot was too long or wide and fell into the net, or when Bencic’s shot fell out of reach, Gauff repeatedly turned toward the coaching box, palms up. He opened his arms wide, as if asking, “What should I do?” ? ” After committing several of her nine double faults, Gauff tapped her leg.
But Gauff readjusted after more than an hour in the first set and did a much better job of piling up points, hitting repeat returns of serve and hitting spots from the baseline. In summary, she is back to her best, and Gauff not only cut her unforced errors in half in the second set, but also gave the winner a 17-2 edge in that period.
By the end, Gauff had taken control, and after scoring a reflex volley to score a point in the final game, she signaled the crowd to make more noise.
Part of the problem early on was that Bencic is a great ball striker. Her current ranking of 294th place is misleading. The 27-year-old from Switzerland reached a career best of fourth place and returned in October after maternity leave.
Bencic’s previous best performances have come on hard courts, including reaching the semifinals of the 2019 US Open and winning singles gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. However, they currently have 0 wins and 3 losses in the fourth round matches played at Melbourne Park. She previously lost to International Tennis Hall of Famer Maria Sharapova in 2016 and eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka two years ago.
Gauff will face world No. 11 Paula Badosa in Tuesday’s quarterfinals. Badosa defeated Olga Danilovic 6-1, 7-6 (2) to reach the last eight for the first time in Melbourne.
The winner of Gauff vs. Badosa will face either world No. 1 Sabalenka, who is aiming for her third consecutive Australian Open title, or No. 27 Anastasia Pavliuchenkova, the 2021 French Open runner-up.
Sabalenka extended her winning streak in Melbourne to 18 matches, defeating 14th seed Mila Andreeva 6-1, 6-2, while Pavliuchenkova defeated 18th seed Donna Vekic 7-6 (0 ), defeated 6-0.
Martina Hingis was the last Australian woman to win three years in a row, from 1997 to 1999.
After the match, Sabalenka hugged Andreeva, waved to the crowd, took a photo with a Polaroid camera and gave a thumbs up to commemorate the occasion.
“My boyfriend and I came up with the idea of collecting Polaroids throughout the year,” she said. “And we’re going to frame it. And we hope to collect a lot of cool moments this year.”
“I’m very happy to get through this difficult match in straight sets,” she said after winning 24 consecutive sets in Melbourne. It was over in just over an hour.
Sabalenka suffered a triple break point in the fifth game of the second set, but almost everything went the No. 1-ranked player’s way, except for Andreva, who won five consecutive points to recover and hold. .
Sabalenka did not face a break point until midway through the second set and made three saves in one game. She seemed to be testing her serve under pressure.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
