Australian Open: Gauff breezes past Fernandez to ease into last 16 meeting with Bencic

Coco Gauff, the No 3 seed, reached the last 16 of the Australian Open by winning against Canadian Leylah Fernandez, the No 30 seed, 6-4, 6-2 at Melbourne Park.

It was a very straightforward victory in the end for the American, who is looking for her second Grand Slam title to add to her maiden title in New York in 2023.

Fernandez is a highly accomplished player – a US Open finalist herself – and this was an encounter that could have proved difficult for Gauff.

Ultimately, her athleticism, power and precision was just too much for the Canadian to handle as she eased to a comfortable victory courtesy of two breaks in each set.

Gauff has now moved to 8-0 in her win-loss ratio for 2025, having won 18 straight sets dating back to her WTA Finals title victory last season.

Going back two tournaments further, the American has won 21 of her last 23 matches – a run that has seen her take the Beijing Open and WTA Finals crown, win all five of her singles matches to propel the US to United Cup victory and now sail into the second week of the year’s opening Grand Slam without the drop of a set.

Put simply, Coco Gauff is one fire.

Gauff, ranked No 3, will play Swiss Belinda Bencic next after the Swiss came through against Osaka, who was forced to retire with injury after the first set.

Ahead of her victory, the 20-year-old American defeated Sofia Kenin (6-3, 6-3) and Jodie Burrage (6-3, 7-5).

Fernandez, ranked No 29, beat Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva (7-5, 6-4) and edged out Spaniard Cristina Bucsa (3-6, 6-4, 6-4) earlier in the tournament.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):

• Madison Keys vs. Danielle Collins
• Elina Svitolina vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Veronika Kudermetova
• Elena Rybakina vs. Dayana Yastremska
• Yulia Putintseva vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Eva Lys vs. Jaqueline Cristian
• Emma Raducanu vs. Iga Swiatek
• Emma Navarro vs. Ons Jabeur
• Olga Danilovic vs. Jessica Pegula
• Belinda Bencic beat Naomi Osaka: 7-6 (3) ret.
• Mirra Andreeva (14) beat Magdalena Frech (23): 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
• Paula Badosa (11) beat Marta Kostyuk (17): 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Clara Tauson: 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Donna Vekic (18) beat Diana Shnaider (12): 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 7-5
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (27) beat Laura Siegemund: 6-1, 6-2