Coco Gauff continues her quest for a first Grand Slam title when she plays her third-round match at the Australian Open. The 18-year-old from Florida takes on another American, Bernarda Pera. Gauff reached her first major final at last year’s French Open before losing to Iga Swiatek. Gauff, who won the WTA warm-up event in Auckland, has yet to drop a set at Melbourne Park this year. She is trying to become the youngest winner of the Australian Open since Martina Hingis won the first of three straight titles in 1997 at age 16. The top-seeded Swiatek and No. 3 Jessica Pegula will look to move a step nearer to a semifinal showdown by winning matches Friday. Swiatek plays Cristina Bucsa, a Spanish qualifier, while Pegula meets Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine. The No. 3-seeded man, Stefanos Tsitsipas, faces Tallon Griekspoor, while Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open champion and runner-up in Melbourne the past two years, plays 29th-seeded Sebastian Korda of the U.S.
Women’s Second Round: No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka beat Shelby Rogers 6-3, 6-1; Katie Volynets beat No. 9 Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 2-6, 6-2; No. 19 Ekaterina Alexandrova beat Taylor Townsend 1-6, 6-2, 6-3; Magda Linette beat No. 16 Anett Kontaveit 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; No. 26 Elise Mertens beat Lauren Davis 6-4, 6-3; No. 30 Karolina Pliskova beat Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 7-5; Linda Fruhvirtova beat Kimberly Birrell 6-3, 6-2.
Men’s Second Round: Jenson Brooksby beat No. 2 Casper Ruud 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-2; No. 5 Andrey Rublev beat Emil Ruusuvuori 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-3; J.J. Wolf beat No. 23 Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 6-4, 6-4; No. 25 Dan Evans beat Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-4, 6-1; Tommy Paul beat No. 30 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2, 2-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3; Ben Shelton beat Nicolas Jarry 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 7-5.
21 — Number of years since the last time the men seeded Nos. 1-2 both lost before the third round at a Grand Slam tournament. Lleyton Hewitt and Gustavo Kuerten exited in the first round of the 2002 Australian Open.
“He makes tennis look a little different from any other players.” — Casper Ruud, describing the game of Jenson Brooksby.
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