Coco Gauff, the 15-year-old American who upset reigning Australian champion Naomi Osaka on Friday night, says she won’t be able to watch her next opponents’ matches because she’ll be asleep.
World No.4 Osaka fell to Gauff 6-3 6-4 in just one hour seven minutes as the Japanese star was let down by 29 unforced errors.
“Honestly, like, what is my life? Oh my gosh,” a stunned Gauff told Channel Nine after the match.
Like last year – two years ago I lost first round in juniors. Now I’m here. This is crazy.”
Saying she’d need a selfie with Rod Laver, having won on the court named in his honour, Gauff conceded she was nervous around the stars of tennis.
“I walked past him a couple of times in the hallways I never
really said ‘Hi’ because I’m a little bit nervous. If he sees this, tell him we can set up a meet up some time. I need a selfie for Instagram.”
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And she would not be sitting up to watch her future opponents matches, given she’s still studying while competing in the grand slam event.
“I want to go to sleep tonight … my teachers, they’re giving me some time because considering the circumstances they’re letting me submit some of the assignments late.
“I’ll be asleep. They play late so late.”
On a day when Serena Williams exited the Open after a shock 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 loss to Wang Qiang, the leading male Novak Djokovic made no mistakes.
The Serbian set up a fourth-round encounter with Diego Schwartzman with a clinical win on Friday afternoon over Yoshihito Nishioka.
The No.2 seed breezed through the third-round clash, registering a 6-3 6-2 6-2 win over the Japanese in just one hour and 25 minutes.
It’s the 13th time the Serb has made it to the last 16 at Melbourne Park as he chases a record-extending eighth crown.
Djokovic himself marvelled at only giving away just one point on serve in the first two sets.
“If it happened [before], it didn’t happen too many times,” he said. “Definitely one of the best serving matches I’ve had lately.”
Fourteenth seed Schwartzman will present a very different challenge to the left-handed Nishioka as Djokovic eyes off a quarter-final against either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Roberto Bautista Agut.
“He is one of the quickest player on the tour,” Djokovic said of the Argentine. “Obviously right-handed so I’m going to have to prepare a bit different tactics than I have today.
The match against Schwartzman will also be the 16-time grand slam winner’s 50th in the fourth round at a major.
He also told the media about his “plant-based” diet which he holds responsible for his good form.
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Local favourite Ashleigh Barty has warned her rivals to bring their A-game if they wish to stop her from breaking the country’s 42-year title drought.
As seven-times champion Williams bombed out, Barty delivered her most impressive performance of the summer to roar into the fourth round with a steely 6-3 6-2 win over big-hitting youngster Elena Rybakina.
“I felt I needed to be switched on. A lot of the games were long and tough and I’m happy to get out of them,” Barty said.
The world No.1 then declared she was only just warming up for the business week at Melbourne Park.
I know if a player is going to beat me, they’re going to have to play a very high-quality match for a long period of time.”
Barty next plays 18th seed Alison Riske, the American who knocked the French Open champion out of Wimbledon at the same stage last year.
Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova remains Barty’s projected last-eight hurdle after storming into the second week without dropping a set.
While there’ll be no Williams in the semi-finals, Barty is only concerned about her next match on Sunday after Riske eliminated the Australian’s doubles partner Julia Goerges with a 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 comeback win over the German.
Riske pulled off one of the upsets of 2019 when she rallied from a set down last July at the All England Club to snap Barty’s 15-match European winning streak that propelled her to world No.1 for the first time.
“Obviously if you have played someone, you can draw on some of those experiences,” Barty said.
“But, yeah, absolutely nothing changes. I’m still here, it’s all good.”
-with AAP
