Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka moves into Australian Open quarterfinals

Aryna Sabalenka has advanced to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, where she's three wins from achieving something no woman has done since the 1990s.

The two-time defending champion extended her winning streak at Melbourne Park to 18 matches with a 6-1, 6-2 win over 14th-seeded Mirra Andreeva to open play Sunday on Rod Laver Arena.

Martina Hingis, from 1997 to 1999, was the last woman to win three straight Australian Open singles titles.

Sabalenka hugged Andreeva after the match, waved to the crowd, took a photo with her Polaroid camera and gave a thumbs up to mark the occasion.

She's won 24 consecutive sets in Melbourne.

"I'm super happy to get through this difficult match in straight sets," she said. It was over in just over an hour.

Apart from the fifth game of the second set, when Sabalenka has triple breakpoint but Andreeva rallied by winning five straight points to hold, just about everything went the way of the No. 1-ranked player.

Sabalenka didn't face a break point until midway through the second set, when she saved three in one game. It seemed like she was testing her serve under pressure.

Coco Gauff's consecutive-set streak ended at the Australian Open. Her bid for a second Grand Slam title continued on Sunday with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 comeback victory over Belinda Bencic in the fourth round.

Afterward, Gauff drew a broken heart on the lens of a courtside TV camera with the message, " RIP TikTok USA," a reference to the ban of the popular app back home.

Until Sunday, Gauff — a 20-year-old from Florida who won the 2023 U.S. Open as a teenager — had collected all 16 sets she'd played this year and 24 of her past 25 dating to the end of last season, which included a title at the WTA Finals.

Gauff now faces No. 11 Paula Badosa in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. Badosa defeated Olga Danilovic 6-1, 7-6 (2) to get to the final eight in Melbourne for the first time.

The winner of Gauff vs. Badosa will play either No. 1 Sabalenka, who is seeking a third consecutive Australian Open title, or No. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 2021 French Open runner-up.

Men's draw

The men's quarterfinals Tuesday will be Novak Djokovic vs. Carlos Alcaraz, and No. 2 Alexander Zverev vs. No. 12 Tommy Paul. Djokovic, who has won 10 of his 24 Grand Slam titles at Melbourne Park, beat No. 24 Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4), while Alcaraz advanced when No. 15 Jack Draper quit because of a hip problem after two sets.

Zverev, a two-time major runner-up, defeated No. 14 Ugo Humbert 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; Paul, a semifinalist in Australia in 2023, eliminated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.

Sabalenka stretched her winning streak in Melbourne to 18 matches by defeating 14th-seeded Mirra Andreeva 6-1, 6-2, and Pavlyuchenkova beat No. 18 Donna Vekic 7-6 (0), 6-0.

Martina Hingis, from 1997 to 1999, was the last woman with three straight championships in Australia.

A year ago, Gauff reached the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the first time, before losing to Sabalenka.

One more win for each and they'll have a rematch in that round. They also met in the U.S. Open final that Gauff won two seasons ago.