Coco Gauff rallies to advance to 4th round in Melbourne

No. 3 seed Coco Gauff rallied from a set down to defeat fellow American Hailey Baptiste 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 and advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Friday.

Gauff need one hour, 50 minutes to capture the win. It was her 77th in a Grand Slam event in 100 matches. Among active players, only Venus Williams (85) and Iga Swiatek (83) have more Grand Slam triumphs.

The first set is one Gauff would like to forget. After breaking Baptiste's serve in the opening game, Baptiste evened the match with a break in the next game. Gauff hit zero winners and compiled 11 unforced errors in the set.

But she swept the second set, which included breaking Baptiste's serve in a 14-minute game that went to deuce seven times for a 4-0 lead.

"On the serve, I was just trying to be aggressive with my placement and not be too passive," Gauff said. "There were some moments where maybe I was a bit too passive, so honestly, I'm out there trying to figure out that balance along with everybody else."

Gauff finished off the third set after a break put her up 4-2, and she praised Baptiste for the effort.

"I've seen her play a million times, but it's always different when you're stepping on the court," Gauff said. "And she plays so differently than any other player on tour, so I was just trying to be my best and adjust."

In the round of 16, Gauff will meet Czech Karolina Muchova, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Magda Linette of Poland. Muchova is the No. 19 seed and 0-4 against Gauff.

In the upset of the day, No. 29 seed Iva Jovic ousted No. 7 Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-2, 7-6 (3).

An American whose father is from Serbia, the 18-year-old Jovic said she listened to advice offered by Serb legend Novak Djokovic, a 10-time winner in Melbourne, this week.

"Just to open up the court a little bit better, to not rush into the shots all the time, find some more width," she said of Djokovic's advice. "So I tried to do that, and it ended well. So I'm just going to try to keep listening to Novak."

Jovic will meet Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan for the right to play in the quarterfinals. Putintseva was a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 winner over Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey.

No. 8 Mirra Andreeva of Russia and No. 12 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine also will meet in the round of 16.

Andreeva dispatched Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 6-4, and Svitolina beat No. 23 Diana Shnaider of Russia 7-6 (4), 6-3.

In earlier action Friday, top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus subdued a stubborn Anastasia Potapova of Austria 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) to move to the round of 16 for the sixth consecutive year. She has taken 23 of her past 24 matches in Melbourne.

After exchanging early breaks in the first set, Potapova staved off three set points against her at 5-6, knotted the set and took momentum into the tiebreaker. But she lost five of six service points in the tiebreaker, including the final two, and Sabalenka appeared to have crossed a major hurdle.

It looked as if the two-time champion would cruise to victory after she won the first four games of the second set. But the Russian-born Potapova, who began playing under the Austrian flag last year, responded in kind, knotting the set at 4-4.

This time, Potapova surged ahead in the tiebreaker, taking a 6-3 lead. But she could not convert four set point chances and Sabalenka captured the final three points of the breaker to advance to the round of 16.

"She played incredible tennis. I was always on the back foot," Sabalenka said of her opponent. "To be honest, there's days when you have to be there and you have to fight and try your best to put the ball back on that side. I don't know what was the key."

Sabalenka will take on 19-year-old Canadian phenom and No. 17 seed Victoria Mboko in the next round. Mboko edged No. 14 Clara Tauson of Denmark, 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3 to reach the fourth round for the first time at a major championship.

Tauson won the first game of the deciding set at love, but Mboko regrouped, reeled off four straight games and captured the match in 2 hours, 19 minutes.

--Field Level Media