Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka into Australian Open quarters

MELBOURNE, Australia — While Coco Gauff’s streak in straight sets ended at Australian Openher bid for a second Grand Slam title continued on Sunday with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 comeback win over Belinda Bencic in the fourth round.

Gauff, a 20-year-old from Florida who won the 2023 US Open as a teenager, had collected all 16 sets she had played this year and 24 of her last 25 dating to the end of last season, which included a title at WTA finals.

But the tournament’s no. The No. 3 seed was unable to control his shots early on against Bencic on a steamy early afternoon at Rod Laver Arena, where the temperature hit 90 degrees and the blue playing surface was bathed in sunlight.

“In the first set, she played great tennis and it was hard for me to be on the offensive,” Gauff said after taking the last five games against Bencic. “I just played more aggressively in the second set and then the third set as well.”

Spectators sitting along the sides of the pitch fanned themselves; Gauff sought relief thanks to the cool air provided on the players’ sideline benches.

When trouble arose late in the first set – with Bencic breaking in each of Gauff’s last two service games, including one that ended with a pair of double faults – the American kept missing the mark and compiled 20 unforced errors.

When her shots landed in the net, too far or too wide, or when Bencic’s fell out of her reach, Gauff repeatedly turned to her trainer’s box and spread her arms wide, palms up, as if to ask, “What am I going to do? ” After some of her nine double faults, Gauff hit her leg.

But Gauff recalibrated after the hour-plus first set, accumulating points in bunches, repeatedly hammering returns of serve and doing a much better job of targeting spots from the baseline. In short, she was back to her best self, and not only did Gauff cut her unforced errors in half in the second set, she compiled a 17-2 edge in winners over that span.

By the end, Gauff was in control and she motioned to the crowd for more noise after a reflex volley to win a point in the final game.

“Obviously, there’s still a long way to go for me to reach my goal,” Gauff said, “but I can say I’m proud of myself and happy with how I performed.”

Part of the problem initially was that Bencic is a fantastic ball striker. Her current ranking as no. 294 is misleading: The 27-year-old from Switzerland, who reached a career best of no. 4, returned to action in October after maternity leave.

Bencic’s previous best results have come on hard courts, including a run to the semifinals of the US Open in 2019 and a single gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She is now 0-3 in fourth-round matches at Melbourne Park, however, previously lost to International Tennis Hall of Fame member Maria Sharapova in 2016 and to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka two years ago.

Gauff will next face no. 11 Paula Badosa in the quarter-finals on Tuesday. Badosa defeated Olga Danilovic 6-1, 7-6 (2) to reach the last eight in Melbourne for the first time.

The winner of Gauff vs. Badosa will play against either no. 1 Sabalenka, who is seeking a third Australian Open title in a row, or no. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 2021 French Open.

Sabalenka extended her winning streak in Melbourne to 18 matches by defeating 14th-seeded Mirra Andreeva 6-1, 6-2, and Pavlyuchenkova beat No. 18 Donna Vekic 7-6 (0), 6-0.

Martina Hingis, from 1997 to 1999, was the last woman with three straight championships in Australia.

Sabalenka hugged Andreeva after the match, waved to the crowd, took a photo with her Polaroid camera and gave the thumbs up to mark the occasion.

“I came up with the idea with my girlfriend that during the year we will collect polaroid photos,” said Sabalenka. “And we have to frame it and I hope we have a lot of cool moments this year to collect.”

A winner of 24 straight sets in Melbourne, she said: “I’m super happy to come through this tough match in straight sets.” It was over in just over an hour.

Apart from the fifth game of the second set, when Sabalenka had a triple break point but Andreeva rallied by winning back five straight points, almost everything went the way of the no. 1-ranked player.

Sabalenka did not face a break point until midway through the second set when she saved three in one game. It seemed like she was testing her serve under pressure.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.