Americans Gauff, Jovic, Tien lose in quarterfinals – Orange County Register

By JOHN PYE AP Sports Writer

MELBOURNE, Australia — Coco Gauff smashed her racket into the concrete floor once for every time she dropped serve, and another one for good measure, after her Australian Open quarterfinal loss to Elina Svitolina on Tuesday.

The third-seeded Gauff, a two-time major winner, struggled with her serve and recorded five double-faults in the first set, when she was broken four times.

There were two more service breaks in the second set and, once the match was over – in 59 minutes – Gauff stayed composed as she left the center court and tried to find somewhere quiet to vent her frustrations.

It turns out, there’s pretty much no place in Rod Laver Arena except for the locker rooms that is beyond the scope of the cameras. So, the seven times she pounded her racket into a concrete ramp were far from a private moment following her 6-1, 6-2 defeat.

“Certain moments – the same thing happened to Aryna (Sabalenka) after I played her in the final of the U.S. Open – I feel like they don’t need to broadcast,” Gauff said in her post-match news conference. “I tried to go somewhere where I thought there wasn’t a camera because I don’t necessarily like breaking rackets.

“I broke one racket (at the) French Open, I think, and I said I would never do it again on court because I don’t feel like that’s a good representation. So, yeah, maybe some conversations can be had.”

Weeks into a tour return from a mental health break, the 12th-seeded Svitolina dominated Gauff from the outset. Gauff struggled with her serve and recorded five double-faults in the first set, when she was broken four times.

Gauff hit just three clean winners across 15 games, made 26 unforced errors and won two of 11 points on her second serve. She got 74% of her first serves into play, but only won 41% of those points.

It was an usually bad day for a player who made her Grand Slam debut at 15 and won her first major, the 2023 U.S. Open, at 19. She’s still only 21.

Gauff said she felt it was better to shatter a racket than to take out any frustrations on her support team.

“They’re good people. They don’t deserve that, and I know I’m emotional,” Gauff said. “So, yeah, I just took the minute to go and do that.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Like I said, I don’t try to do it on court in front of kids and things like that, but I do know I need to let out that emotion.”

There was no such frustration for Svitolina, the 31-year-old Ukrainian who lost quarterfinals here in 2018, 2019 and last year. She’s now on a 10-match winning streak after starting the season with a title in Auckland, New Zealand.

“Very pleased with the tournament so far and, of course, always been my dream to come back here after maternity leave in the Top 10,” said Svitolina, who is playing her 12th major tournament since taking a maternity break in 2022. She and Gael Monfils, the popular French player who is retiring this year, are parents to Skai.

Gauff wasn’t the only American headed home.

Aryna Sabalenka beat 18-year-old Iva Jovic, 6-3, 6-0, to reach the semifinals on Tuesday (Monday night PT) before searing heat on Day 10 forced matches to be played under cover.

In an afternoon match, Alexander Zverev got the benefit of playing under a roof at Rod Laver Arena and advanced to the final four with a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory over Irvine’s Learner Tien. The third-ranked Zverev, last year’s runner-up in Australia, reached his 10th Grand Slam semifinal on the back of 24 aces and just a single double-fault – which he served when he had six match points in the deciding tiebreaker.

Top-ranked Sabalenka, also a runner-up in Melbourne last year, is aiming for her third Australian Open title in four years. She won back-to-back titles here in 2023 and 2024 and lost the final a year ago to Madison Keys.

The first of the four quarterfinals scheduled on Day 10 was played outdoors, despite predictions of the temperature peaking at 113 degrees in Melbourne.

“I guess, yeah, as a woman, we are stronger than the guys,” Sabalenka said her later news conference, laughing. “So they had to close the roof for the guys so they don’t suffer!”

Sabalenka went up 3-0 in the first set and established her dominance early against the 29th-seeded Jovic.

Jovic had three breakpoint chances in the ninth game, which lasted 10 minutes, but wasn’t able to convert against the world’s top-ranked woman. In the last game, Sabalenka served an ace on break point and clinched it with another ace on match point. She saved all five break points she faced.

It gave her back-to-back wins over up-and-coming teenagers following her fourth-round victory over 19-year-old Canadian Vicky Mboko.

“These teenagers have tested me in the last couple of rounds – incredible player,” Sabalenka said of Jovic in an on-court interview.

“It was a tough match,” Sabalenka added. “Don’t look at the score. She played incredible tennis and she pushed me to a one-step better level. It was a battle.”

Jovic was born in California and is the daughter of parents who immigrated to the United States. Her father is Serbian and Jovic, naturally, has sought some tips from no other than Novak Djokovic.

CHANG’S INFLUENCE ON TIEN

The Michael Chang influence on Tien’s tennis has people talking about what is possible for the 20-year-old American.

Zverev, the 2025 Australian Open runner-up was startled by the difference he’s noticed in a matter of months.

“I don’t know what Michael Chang has done with him in the offseason,” said Zverev, who reached his 10th Grand Slam semifinal. “Very different than last year, for sure. It was incredible to see how he played from the baseline. I thought he was playing unbelievable.”

The pair played two head-to-heads last year, with Zverev winning in the first round at Roland Garros and Tien winning in the Round of 16 at Acapulco, where he reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier.

Tien was a breakout star last year in Melbourne, where he upset three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev in the second round and made it to the Round of 16. He won his first ATP title in Metz and reached the final in Beijing. He also landed the crown at the ATP’s Next Gen Finals in December.

This year at the Australian Open, he thumped Medvedev in straight sets to reach the last eight.

Tien was the youngest man since 2015 to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals. He was also the only player outside the Top 10 to make it.

Chang, the 1989 French Open champion, knows what it takes for a young player to beat the odds. He won the title at Roland Garros at the age of 17, which remains the youngest for a male to have won a Grand Slam singles crown.

He started working with Tien last year and was in the young player’s support crew at Melbourne Park the last two weeks, offering technical advice and encouragement.

Chang’s advice to step up to receive Zverev’s second serve helped in the second set, when there was a noticeable turnaround in Tien’s return points. But his opponent was too consistent with his first serve throughout the match, upping the pressure with 24 aces.

“He’s always a very calming presence,” Tien said of the 53-year-old Chang. “Offers me a lot of stuff mid-match, especially stuff that maybe I’m not picking up on.

“Obviously (Zverev) played a good match. He was playing pretty well from start to finish, so you know, for portions of the match, I was just trying to stay with him and not let him kind of run away with things.

“So it’s more of that. (Chang) was just giving me little bits of encouragement.”

Tien said he’s made a lot of headway since his previous trip to Australia, but is still working to improve his serve and his physicality.

“Physically, I wouldn’t say I’m close to, you know, where I hope to be one day,” he said. “But I think weeks like this are good to test myself. I get a lot of takeaways from winning and losing these matches.

“It just really sets me up to come back – come back and be even better the next time.”

The temperature topped 108 degrees at 5 p.m. local time, but started to drop ahead of the night session. Play was suspended on outside courts all afternoon. During the quarterfinal between Sabalenka and Jovic, the players held ice packs to their heads and portable fans to their faces during breaks in play.

Photographers shooting the match were supplied with cushions by organizers to avoid heat-related injuries when they sat down and covered their cameras with towels to prevent the devices malfunctioning in the heat or burning their hands. Fans lined up to stand in front of giant misting fans or sought shelter in air-conditioned areas of the venue.

Crowds at the event, which has registered record-breaking turnout days so far, dropped from 50,000 from Monday’s daytime session to 21,000 on Tuesday as people heeded health warnings from officials and stayed home.

Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz had little trouble with sixth-seeded Alex de Minaur in the last match of the night, rolling to a 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 win. Alcaraz has won six Grand Slam titles but has never won the Australian Open and had lost in the quarterfinals here the past two years.

TOP PLAYERS ASKED TO REMOVE FITNESS TRACKERS

Wearable fitness trackers will likely be OK for players to use in future editions of the Australian Open, where leading players Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka have been asked to remove their devices in matches this year.

Sabalenka wants the ban overturned now. The top-ranked player in women’s tennis, aiming for a third Australian title in four years, said after her quarterfinal win that the Australian Open and other three majors are out of step with the rest of tennis.

Alcaraz and Sinner, who have split the last eight major men’s singles titles between them, were approached by chair umpires during the fourth round on Sunday and Monday to take off the straps they usually wear on their wrists.

Video of the interactions drew attention to a conflict between regular tournaments and the four majors.

The devices are widely used in elite sports to collect physiological data that provides insights about health and performance in training, competition, recovery and sleep.

The technology is approved for use by the International Tennis Federation and by the men’s and women’s tours. So far, the approval hasn’t extended to the four Grand Slam tournaments – the Australian, French and U.S. Opens and Wimbledon.

So, that’s why the chair umpire approached top-ranked Alcaraz during his fourth-round match against Tommy Paul and asked him to take it off. The 22-year-old Alcaraz immediately complied, taking off his sweatband and removing the strap.

“Wearables are currently not permitted at Grand Slams,” Tennis Australia said in a statement. “The Australian Open is involved in ongoing discussions on how this situation could change.”

Tennis Australia said some wearables provide athletes with an indication of internal load – measures such as heart rate – “which can give them a 360-degree view of the work they’re doing and how their bodies’ respond.”

Tournament organizers said players had access to data at the Australian Open that helped them monitor “key external load measures” such as distance covered, changes of direction, high acceleration events and speed and spin of shots.

The technology provider, WHOOP, describes it as “your 24/7 wearable coach designed to help you improve your health, fitness, and longevity.”

In a social media post, the company said the technology is “performance-enhancing – by design. That’s the whole point.”

“Taking that insight away is like asking athletes to play blind.”

Sabalenka said she received an email that the devices had approval from the ITF and “I didn’t know that the Grand Slams didn’t come to the same conclusion.”

“I don’t understand why because the whole year we are wearing them in WTA tournaments, all the tournaments I play,” she said. “I don’t understand why the Grand Slams are not allowing us to wear it and I really hope that they will reconsider the decision and let their players track their health monitor.”

Sinner, the two-time Australian Open winner, said the data collected from his wrist device during matches helps with recovery and preparation for future matches.

“There is certain data what we would like to track a little bit on court. It’s not for the live thing,” he said. “It’s more about you can see after the match. These are data we would like to use also in practice sessions because from that you can practice on with the heart rate, how much calories you burn, all these kind of things.”

After his fourth-round win over fellow Italian Luciano Darderi, Sinner said he also accepted the umpire’s decision immediately.

“It’s fine. There are other things we could use – (like) the vest. But it’s a bit for me uncomfortable – you feel like you have something on the shoulders. It’s a bit different,” he said. “But rules are rules. I understand. I won’t use it again.”