On January 19th, Beijing time, the fourth round of the Australian Open women's singles saw four key battles, including a match between Gauff and dark horse Bencic. Ultimately, after a tough three-set battle, Gauff managed to reverse her opponent with a 2-1 victory, securing her place in the quarterfinals.
In this Australian Open, Bencic's performance has been truly impressive. In her previous three matches, she defeated Ostapenko and Lammers 2-0 each, and in the last round against Osaka Naomi, her opponent retired due to injury after losing the first set 0-1. This means that throughout these three matches, Bencic did not lose a single set, and her advancement to the round of 16 is well-deserved.
Facing Gauff, Bencic continued her excellent form, shocking Gauff in the first set. After playing all 12 games, Bencic won 7-5, which was also the first time Gauff had fallen behind in this tournament. In the second set, Gauff quickly adjusted and broke serve, eventually winning 6-2 to level the score at 1-1.
In the decisive third set, after the first four games, Gauff broke serve again, leading 3-1. Although Bencic fought hard, facing one of the top three players in the women's tennis world, Gauff, she could not create a miracle despite her best efforts. She lost another set 1-6, with a total score of 1-2, and was ultimately unable to advance to the quarterfinals.
In addition to Bencic, Danilovic was also eliminated. On this match day, she faced Badosa and was knocked out with a 0-2 defeat. In this tournament, Danilovic also made it to the round of 16 against expectations, making her one of the recognized dark horses.
In the first set, Danilovic made many mistakes and quickly lost 1-6. In the second set, Danilovic quickly adjusted and once pushed Badosa into a tiebreak battle, but unfortunately lost 2-7 (set score 6-7) to her opponent, and was swept 0-2, ending the run of both Bencic and Danilovic as dark horses.
In another match, Pavlyuchenkova faced Vekic, a clash between two seeded players in this event. In the first set, the two played to a tiebreak, with Pavlyuchenkova winning seven consecutive points to take the tiebreak 7-0 (set score 7-6). In the second set, Vekic, who had lost interest in the fight, was ultimately swept 0-6, losing 0-2 in total.
Svitolina also swept Mira Andreeva 2-0, with the top-seeded women's singles player delivering her best performance in this Australian Open, eventually advancing to the quarterfinals with scores of 6-1 and 6-2. So far, four spots in the women's singles quarterfinals of the Australian Open have been determined, with Svitolina, Gauff, Pavlyuchenkova, and Badosa, all top-seeded players, successfully advancing. Next, Svitolina will face Pavlyuchenkova, while Gauff will compete against Badosa, with the winners of both matches advancing to the semifinals. If there are no surprises, the semifinal is likely to be a match between Svitolina and Gauff, which will undoubtedly be a prelude to the final!