American fourth seed Coco Gauff reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the first time on Sunday after defeating Polish player Magdalena Frech 6-1, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena. Gauff, the US Open champion, has not lost a set at Melbourne Park during the current tournament. She broke the Polish player's serve in the first game of the match and did not give her opponent any chance to find her rhythm. With Australian tennis legend Rod Laver in the audience, Gauff clinched the match in just over one hour, setting up a quarterfinal meeting with either unseeded Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk or Russian qualifier Maria Timofeeva.
After her win and qualification, the 19-year-old Gauff said, "Rod Laver Arena is the best court in Australia, and I was honored to play in front of you. So thank you for coming to watch my match. Fortunately, when I noticed his presence, my morale increased a lot. I wasn't very nervous. There were many legends of the game in the stands." Gauff had prepared for the major tournament by retaining her Auckland title, and today she delivered a flawless performance from the baseline, racing to a 5-1 lead in the first set before closing it out due to an error from Frech, ranked 69th in the world. In the second set, Gauff faced some difficulty but broke her opponent's serve to lead 3-1 before sealing the match, extending her unbeaten streak in 2024 to nine matches.
