Coco Gauff, who was still a teenager when she won her first major title in 2023, is back in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open for the third year in a row after a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over No. 19 Karolina Muchova on Sunday.
She next faces No. 12 Elina Svitolina, who closed out Day 8 play with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over 18-year-old eighth seed Mirra Andreeva.
Also in the last 8 for the third year in a row, No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz continued his bid for a Grand Slam career at the age of 22 with a 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 19 seed Tommy Paul.
He never got past the last eight at Melbourne Park, the only one of the four Grand Slam venues where he did not win the title. That’s a statistic he’s determined to rectify, to the point where he’s reworking his serve to look a little more in style with 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.
He is unlikely to have the crowd behind him in the quarter-finals, where he will meet local hope and sixth seed Alex de Minaur, a 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 winner over No. 10 Alexander Bublik.
No. 3 Alexander Zverev, the runner-up in Melbourne last year, defeated Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 and will next meet 20-year-old Learner Tien, Australia’s youngest men’s quarter-finalist since Nick Kyrgios in 2015. Tien, who required treatment for a bloody nose after the third match, defeated three-time Australian Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-0. 6-3.
The 38-year-old Djokovic was given a walkover to the quarter-finals after Jakub Mensik withdrew with an abdominal injury 24 hours before the scheduled fourth-round match.
Iva Jovic, who will next face Aryna Sabalenka in the women’s division, received some good advice from Djokovic, a 24-time major winner, during the tournament. He said he would like to help a rising star of Serbian descent.
Jovic made it clear last year that she wanted a chance to play against the world number 1. Now she gets that chance.
Sabalenka, who joked about waiting for a formal invitation to partner Djokovic in mixed doubles at a major, got through the first set in 31 minutes against Canada’s Victoria Mboko but struggled a bit in the second.
Mboko saved match points and played well enough to beat many players, but not the two-time Australian Open champion.
“What an incredible player for such a young age,” Sabalenka said of Mboko. “It’s incredible to see these kids on Tour. I can’t believe I’m saying that. I feel like I’m a kid!”
“She pushed me a lot, and I’m glad I got through it,” Sabalenka added in her on-court TV interview.
Sabalenka led the second set 4-1, but then failed to convert three match points while leading 5-4. Mboko slowly gained momentum and forced a tiebreak, allowing Sabalenka to dominate.
It was the twentieth victory in a row – a record – for Sabalenka.
“I’m trying – not to think this is a tiebreaker and play point by point,” said Sabalenka, who won back-to-back titles in Australia in 2023 and ’24 before losing last year’s final to Madison Keys. “I think that’s the key to consistency.”
Jovic and Mboko combined in doubles later on Sunday and had match points before the fourth-seeded duo held Elise Mertens and Zhang Shuai in the super tiebreak to win 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (10).
“They are both very young and very talented,” said Mertens. “It was a really tough match.”
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