MELBOURNE, Australia -- While Coco Gauff's consecutive-set winning streak ended at the Australian Open, her bid for a second Grand Slam title continued Sunday with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 comeback victory over Belinda Bencic in the fourth round.
Gauff, a 20-year-old from Florida who won the 2023 US Open as a teenager, had collected all 16 sets she had played this year and 24 of her past 25 dating to the end of last season, which included a title at the WTA Finals.
But the tournament's No. 3 seed was unable to control her shots well enough at the start against Bencic on a steamy early afternoon in Rod Laver Arena, where the temperature hit 90 degrees and the blue playing surface was bathed in sunlight.
"In the first set, she played great tennis, and it was tough for me to be on the offense," Gauff said after grabbing the last five games against Bencic. "I just played more aggressively in the second set and then also the third set."
Spectators seated along the sides of the court fanned themselves; Gauff sought relief thanks to the cool air provided at the players' sideline benches.
As trouble mounted late in the first set -- in which Bencic broke in each of Gauff's last two service games, including one that ended with a pair of double faults -- the American kept missing the mark, compiling 20 unforced errors.
When her shots landed into the net, too long or too wide or when Bencic's fell beyond her reach, Gauff repeatedly turned toward her coaches' box and put her arms wide with palms up, as if to ask, "What am I supposed to do?" After some of her nine double faults, Gauff slapped her leg.
But Gauff recalibrated after the hour-plus first set, accumulating points in bunches, repeatedly hammering returns of serve and doing a much better job of targeting spots from the baseline. In sum, she was back to her best self, and not only did Gauff cut her unforced errors in half in the second set, she put together a 17-2 edge in winners over that span.
By the end, Gauff was in control, and she motioned to the crowd for more noise after a reflex volley to win a point in the final game.
"Obviously, there's still a lot to go for me to accomplish my goal," Gauff said, "but I can say that I'm proud of myself and happy with how I performed."
Part of the problem in the early going was that Bencic is a terrific ball striker. Her current ranking of No. 294 is misleading: The 27-year-old from Switzerland, who reached a career best of No. 4, returned to action in October after maternity leave.
Bencic's previous best results have arrived on hard courts, including a run to the semifinals of the US Open in 2019 and a singles gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. She's now 0-3 in fourth-round matches at Melbourne Park, though, losing previously to International Tennis Hall of Fame member Maria Sharapova in 2016 and to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka two years ago.
Gauff will next face 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.
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.
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.
"I came up with the idea with my boyfriend that throughout the year, we're going to collect Polaroid pictures," Sabalenka said. "And we're going to frame it, and I hope we'll have a lot of cool moments this year to collect."
A winner of 24 consecutive sets in Melbourne, she said, "I'm super happy to get through this difficult match in straight sets." It was over in just more than an hour.
Apart from the fifth game of the second set, when Sabalenka had a triple break point 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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.