Coco Gauff of the U.S. celebrates after defeating compatriot Caroline Dolehide of their second spherical match on the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024.
Related Press/Andy Wong
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and U.S. Open winner Coco Gauff prevented the early Day 4 upsets on the Australian Open to advance to the third spherical together with 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva.
Three-time main finalist Ons Jabeur misplaced 6-0, 6-2 in 54 minutes to Andreeva in Wednesday’s opening match on Rod Laver Enviornment after which 2018 champion Caroline Wozniacki additionally misplaced to a younger Russian on the No. 3 present court docket.
Two different 16-year-old gamers misplaced their middle court docket matches to highly-ranked gamers: No. 10 Beatriz Haddad Maia accounted for Alina Korneeva 6-1, 6-2 and Sabalenka overpowered Brenda Fruhvirtova 6-3, 6-2 to open the night time session.
Gauff prolonged her profitable streak to 9 matches at Grand Slams with a 7-6 (6), 6-2 win over fellow American Caroline Dolehide.
Dolehide served for the opening set at 6-5 earlier than U.S. Open champion Gauff took management within the tiebreaker.
“It was actually laborious,” Gauff stated. “In case you give her one thing brief, she’s going to punish you for it, so if I might return and do one thing I’d change that.”
Gauff will subsequent play one other American, Alycia Parks, who reached the third spherical of a Grans Slam singles match for the primary time with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Thirty second-ranked Leylah Fernandez.
Jabeur, the runner-up at Wimbledon in every of the previous two years, made 24 unforced errors in opposition to Andreeva.
“I used to be actually nervous earlier than the match as a result of I’m actually impressed by Ons and the best way she performs,” stated Andreeva, who misplaced within the remaining of the junior occasion right here final 12 months. “Earlier than I began on the WTA Tour, I at all times watched her matches and was at all times so impressed. Now I had the prospect to play in opposition to her.”
It’s the second successive 12 months that Jabeur has misplaced within the second spherical in Melbourne.
Wozniacki led by a set and a break earlier than shedding 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 to 20-year-old Maria Tomafeeva, who’s making her primary draw Grand Slam singles debut.
Wozniacki, who had two kids earlier than returning to the WTA Tour final 12 months after 3 1-2 years away, began out on prime earlier than Tomafeeva turned the match round with some devastating hitting, together with 40 winners.
“I’m actually a bit speechless now,” Tomafeeva stated. “It was an honor to play right here in opposition to Caroline. I used to be going into the match with none expectations. I loved each second of it.”
Wozniacki stated the match “slid out of my palms . . . it’s positively disappointing,”
Jabeur and Wozniacki performed their matches underneath the roof, on Rod Laver Enviornment and John Cain Enviornment, respectively, with rain inflicting the beginning of matches on the skin courts to be delayed for 3 hours. It cleared up and the backlog of matches was restricted.
Amanda Anisimova continued her comeback from a seven-month psychological well being break with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Nadia Podoroska. She’ll subsequent play Paula Badosa, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
In males’s matches, fourth-seeded Jannick Sinner beat Jesper de Jong 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 on Margaret Court docket Enviornment, the third stadium at Melbourne Park with a retractable roof.
U.S. Open semifinalist Ben Shelton, the No. 16 seed, superior 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5) over native hope Chris O’Connell. He had match factors within the twelfth recreation of the fourth set however couldn’t convert, and wanted two extra within the tiebreaker earlier than advancing.
A quarterfinalist on debut right here final 12 months, Shelton stated he loved the ambiance that the house crowd gave O’Connell and stated he might nonetheless hear the mantra “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi” in his sleep.
Australia’s highest-ranked participant, No. 10 Alex de Minaur, accounted for Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-0, 6-3. De Minaur will subsequent play Flavio Cobolli, an Italian qualifier who beat Pavel Kotov 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2. No. 12-seeded Taylor Fritz additionally superior.
Novak Djokovic, a 10-time winner of the occasion, performs native hope Alexei Popyrin within the late match.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
