MELBOURNE -- World No.4 Coco Gauff marched into the third round at the Australian Open after defeating fellow American Caroline Dolehide, 7-6(2), 6-2 in the second round on Wednesday. 

Gauff's victory improved her perfect start of the season to 7-0. She has lost just one set over that span. 

With her two wins in Melbourne, the reigning US Open champion is now the first American teen to win nine or more consecutive Grand Slam main draw matches in the Open Era after Chris Evert, Tracy Austin, Monica Seles and Serena Williams.

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Gauff will face another American in the next round. No.82 Alycia Parks added to the early upsets on Day 4, defeating 32nd-seed Leylah Fernandez 7-5, 6-4 to make the third round of a Slam for the first time in her career. 

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Gauff lost just three games to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in her Melbourne opener, but Dolehide's heavy forehand proved a tougher puzzle to solve for the reigning US Open champion. Gauff looked in firm control over the first five games of the match, opening up a 4-1 lead as Dolehide struggled to find her range.

But Dolehide's quality did not remain dormant for long. A finalist last year at the WTA 1000 in Guadalajara, the 25-year-old began to break down Gauff's forehand wing to storm back and serve for the first set at 6-5. But a double fault and pair of unforced errors from the baseline allowed Gauff to break back and force a tiebreak. There, Gauff struck winner after winner to earn a 5-1 lead and closed out the 54-minute set when Dolehide's backhand missed.

With a set in pocket, Gauff looked to open up more opportunities at the net in the second set. The tactical adjustment paid off. She opened up a 4-2 lead after Dolehide failed on a forehand pass and then came through the longest game of the match to close out the 1-hour and 44-minute win, improving her record to 2-0 over Dolehide.

Gauff finished the match with 20 winners to 26 unforced errors. Dolehide struck 17 winners to 41 unforced errors.

Parks powers past Fernandez

In the first meeting between Parks and Fernandez, Parks battled through two close sets to knock out the 2021 US Open finalist in 1 hour and 43 minutes, setting up her first tour-level showdown with Gauff.

With the win, Parks has broken through to the third round of a Grand Slam event for the first time in her career. This is also Parks' first time contesting the Australian Open main draw, having fallen in the second round of qualifying in both 2022 and 2023.

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Parks was down a late break at 5-2 in the first set, but she went on a five-game winning spree from there to eke out the one-set lead. Fernandez then fell behind early in the second set after dropping serve at 1-1 with a double fault.

That proved to be the only opportunity Parks needed in the second set, as the powerful American charged through the rest of the match without facing any more break points.

Parks finished the match with 30 winners to Fernandez's nine. Thirteen of those winners were aces from the Parks racquet.