Gauff, Osaka, Pegula, Sabalenka advance to third round of Australian Open

The American had to come from 5-3 down in the second set to reel in the World No.173

Melbourne: American youngster Coco Gauff extended her winning streak to nine matches with a 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Jodie Burrage in the Australian Open second round.

The American had to come from 5-3 down in the second set to reel in the World No.173. Gauff’s speed and consistency saw her ease to a 3-1 second-set lead over Burrage. However, the Briton threatened to turn the tables with a run of four straight games before Gauff responded with four straight of her own to get over the finishing line.

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With a win, Gauff set up a third-round encounter with 2021 US Open finalist and No. 30 seed Leylah Fernandez, who defeated Cristina Bucsa 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 for a place in the third round. In other Day 4 action, two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka secured a berth in the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time since giving birth in July 2023.

The world No. 51 Japanese rallied from a set down to earn a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over 20th seed Karolina Muchova on Wednesday after battling for almost two hours. Osaka finished with 33 winners to 27 unforced errors, while Muchova hit 27 winners to 29 unforced errors. The four-time major winner’s next opponent is Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, who is competing in her first Grand Slam since giving birth last year.

Bencic advanced with a straight-sets dismissal of Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens, 6-1 7-6(3). In another match, seventh seed Jessica Pegula snapped her losing streak against 2018 semifinalist Elise Mertens with a 6-4 6-2 victory at Margaret Court Arena. Pegula, who reached three straight Australian Open quarterfinals between 2021 and 2023, needed 1 hour and 11 minutes to beat Mertens, the highest-ranked unseeded player.

In the round of 32, Pegula faces Olga Danilovic, who scored a 6-1, 6-2 upset over 25th seed Liudmila Samsonova. Meanwhile, top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka needed to battle before collecting her 16th straight win at Melbourne Park.

After a first set, Sabalenka found herself down 5-2 in the second. Bouzas Maneiro took the big second-set lead while she was aiming for her second upset of a Grand Slam defending champion. But Sabalenka wrestled back the momentum, winning five games in a row to swipe the second set and book her spot in the third round for the fifth straight year.

She is the first woman to win 16 straight Australian Open matches since Victoria Azarenka in 2014. Sabalenka is also attempting to become the first woman to win three straight Australian Open singles titles since Martina Hingis from 1997 through 1999. With the win, Sabalenka remains in the mix to retain her World No.1 ranking coming out of Melbourne, although Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff also have the possibility to claim the top spot after the Australian Open. Elsewhere, the 14th seed Mirra Andreeva survived a scare against Moyuka Uchijima, who served for the match at 5-4 in the third before the 17-year-old ultimately triumphed 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, (10-8).