Coco Gauff has extended her unblemished start to the season with a straight-sets win over Leylah Fernandez on Friday to roll into the second week of the Australian Open.
The American world number three, one of the favourites for the Melbourne title, eased to a 6-4, 6-2 third-round win on Rod Laver Arena against the 30th seed from Canada.
Gauff is yet to drop a set this season in eight matches having won all five of her singles at the season-opening United Cup, including a 6-3, 6-2 win over Fernandez which was the pair’s only previous clash.
“I think it was harder because she knew what to expect, and I definitely think she played a little bit different today than at the United Cup,” said Gauff, who is on an overall 12-match winning streak.
“Leylah is a great competitor, great player, great person so I knew today was going to be a tough match regardless of the result a couple of weeks ago.”
Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion, lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open semifinal last year, her best Melbourne Park performance to date.
She is drawn to meet the world number one and double defending champion at the same stage this year.
Before that the 20-year-old will face Belinda Bencic, who advanced when Naomi Osaka retired injured, for a place in the quarterfinals.
World number 29 Fernandez, the losing finalist in the 2021 US Open, was in the third round in Melbourne for the first time and found the precision of Gauff hard to handle.
The American stepped on the gas midway through the first set, breaking Fernandez to love.
A double break at the start of the second put Gauff in control, but serving at 3-0 she coughed up a pair of double faults to allow Fernandez a break back and a lifeline.
If Fernandez sensed a door opening, then Gauff immediately slammed it shut, breaking again for 4-1.
Serving for the match at 5-2, Gauff unleashed two searing backhand winners – one down the line and one across court – and sealed victory with an unreturnable lob in 1hr 16min
Bencic in Gauff’s sights after Osaka retires
Gauff will now face the Swiss Bencic, who advanced to the last 16 after two-time champion Naomi Osaka retired during Friday’s third-round match.
Bencic took the first set in a tiebreak 7-6(3) before Japan’s Osaka, who had also pulled out of the Auckland final earlier this month due to the same abdominal injury, withdrew from the contest.
Osaka had said the result from an MRI scan before the tournament “wasn’t fantastic” but came through two rounds, beating Caroline Garcia and Karolina Muchova in three-set matches.
But the clash against Bencic, ranked 294 in the world at the start of the Open, proved to be a step too far for the 27-year-old who said her withdrawal seemed ‘inevitable’ after the strain she put on her abdomen in the earlier rounds.
“It’s not fantastic and I’m feeling not great, not bad. In the middle somewhere,” Osaka told reporters.
“It was a little hectic trying to manage it (during the tournament) because obviously my draw was quite tough. But we were also doing everything we could. I was going to therapy every day and into the night. So the days have been very long for me. Obviously after my last match it got way worse.”
Bencic broke early to go 1-0 up but Osaka showed promise and quickly found her range to keep the Swiss at bay with an effective first serve and deep groundstrokes while she also held her nerve on a crucial hold to lead 5-2.
But Osaka, who won the title at Melbourne Park in 2019 and 2021, was visibly struggling and she lost her composure when she failed to serve out the set as Bencic grew in confidence with two searing returns.
Osaka then called for a physiotherapist during a changeover and although she initially soldiered on after treatment, she could not continue after the tiebreak.
“I really feel for Naomi, I saw her struggling a little bit at the end of the set and obviously it’s not the way you would like this match to end,” Bencic said.
“I thought it was a good match, so hopefully she’ll be fine soon and she can play well for the rest of the season.”
