Australian Open Day 8 order of play: Teenagers take over the second week
Yes, the two highest seeds in the top half of the draw -- No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 3 Coco Gauff -- are still in play as Sunday’s WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz fourth-round matches are about to unfurl.
That was expected, of course. But the following sentence wasn’t: Three teenagers populate these four matches.
Mirra Andreeva, Victoria Mboko and Iva Jovic are all (obligatory cliché alert) serving notice that youth will be served -- not someday, but now. Including Tereza Valentova and qualifier Nikola Bartunkova from the other half of the draw, five teenagers made the third round, the most at a major in 17 years.
It’s a startling turn of events.
“I think they just have the belief that they can be here with the top dogs, and I think that's kind of the mentality I had when I was younger,” Gauff told reporters gathered at Melbourne Park. “Yeah, it's great to see them doing well. Hopefully when I play them, I can win, but if not, it's OK.”
A pair of precocious 18-year-olds, Jovic (10) and Andreeva (nine) have registered the most WTA main-draw victories so far this year.
“I've known a lot of them for such a long time, played against them in the juniors,” Mboko said. “Honestly, I don't feel like I'm that much more mature or anything. I think coming onto this early can make you more mature in a way.
“You just learn a lot more things quicker.”
Gauff, a veteran of 100 main-draw Grand Slam matches at the age of 21, has been there.
“I think a couple of your first years on tour are always easiest just because there is no pressure, no points to defend,” Gauff said. “Also, scouting-wise there aren't many matches for other players to call upon.
“But yeah, I thought that [belief] was a mentality I had, and then honestly, this year I was, like, 'I need to get back to that, because it's actually more factual now than when I was 15 or 16 years old.’ ”
We break down these must-see matches that will deliver the winners into the Australian Open quarterfinals:
No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka vs. No. 17 Victoria Mboko
Head-to-head: 0-0
No one’s doing it better under the immense pressure of a tiebreak than Sabalenka. Last year, she won 19 of those extra sessions in a row over a period of eight months and finished at 22-3 -- both Open Era records for women.
On Friday, Sabalenka defeated her good friend Anastasia Potapova 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7), her first and second tiebreaks of the season, to run her 2026 record to 8-0.
“You cannot lose your focus for a second because it's gone, like, really quickly,” Sabalenka said. “So you have to be there 100 percent. That's my approach. I just take it one point at a time.”
She’ll have to play like that against the 19-year-old Mboko, who had to be laser-focused herself in a gritty 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3 win over No. 14 seed Clara Tauson.
“I feel like maybe for me, it would be really tough to handle the success at young age,” Sabalenka said. “But I feel like now seeing these girls, so young age achieving so much, playing such a great tennis, being really mature, it's incredible.
“She's an aggressive player, playing really great tennis. Really heavy shots.”
Mboko didn’t expect to get this far in her first Australian Open, but “I think it's super cool,” she said. “I've never played a current No. 1 in the world. That's going to be a very different experience. I assume we'd be playing on Rod Laver, as well. I've never played on a Grand Slam center court either. A lot of firsts.”
“To be doing that on Sunday is … Just to show what I got.”
No. 3 Coco Gauff vs. No. 19 Karolina Muchova
Head-to-head: 4-0, Gauff -- all in straight sets
Forgive Gauff if she’s feeling confident going into this one, for not only has she never dropped a set to the talented Muchova, but she’s gone on to win the title every time they’ve met -- Cincinnati 2023, US Open 2023, Beijing 2024 and the United Cup 2025.
Gauff has been working on adding a bit more shape to her forehand, creating a greater margin for error with increased rotation.
“Honestly today I felt better on my forehand side than I did my backhand, which yeah, if you watch me play, it's not often that happens,” Gauff said after coming back to defeat Hailey Baptiste in three sets. “I've always thought for some reason in my head the hitting shape was more defensive. I realized that you can be really offensive and aggressive with hitting with shape.”
Against the backdrop of these teenagers, it’s easy to forget her age. For context, consider that Gauff is the youngest player to play those 100 major matches since Maria Sharapova at the 2008 French Open.
A year ago, Gauff was a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Muchova in the United Cup play and went on to start the season with a 3-3 record, but this year she seems to be in a better place. After throttling Magda Linette 6-1, 6-1 (in 63 minutes), Muchova has won six of seven matches.
She’ll have to again serve and return like she did against Linette, when she won 19 of 21 first-serve points and converted five of nine break opportunities.
No. 6 Mirra Andreeva vs. No. 12 Elina Svitolina
Head-to-head: Andreeva, 1-0, 2025 Indian Wells
Thirteen years separate these two, but Svitolina, a 31-year-old mother, is playing like it’s 2018. That was the last time she started a season with eight consecutive match-wins.
The most recent came Friday against No. 23 seed Diana Shnaider, an impressive 7-6 (4), 6-3 result.
Andreeva, who dispatched Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 6-4, has been almost as perfect this year, winning nine of 10. She took back-to-back WTA 1000s last year in Dubai and Indian Wells, but there were times later in the season when she seemed to regress.
This year Andreeva is making a conscious effort to be more aggressive, play closer to the baseline.
“I used to be more of a defensive player since I'm very young,” Andreeva said. “So sometimes when I'm nervous or when I get tense, I tend to kind of go back to my old habits. For one year and a half we've been working with [coach] Conchita [Martinez] for me taking the initiative.
“It brings more points and more results to my game.”
Expect a tight scoreline similar to their quarterfinal last year at Indian Wells, which went to Andreeva 7-5, 6-3. But, considering the massive momentum on both sides coming in, this one’s too close to call.
No. 29 Iva Jovic vs. Yulia Putintseva
Head-to-head: 0-0
Make the second week of a Grand Slam? Check.
Beat a Top 10 player? Check.
And Jovic did both in a single match, defeating No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 7-6 (3).
“Obviously I had my hopes to start well and win a lot of matches,” Jovic said. “But you just never know when everything is going to click. Hopefully, I can keep going and winning some more.”
It’s all good for Jovic, who even got some unsolicited advice from a guy with 24 Grand Slam titles.
“I spoke to Novak yesterday a little bit -- so it was pretty incredible,” Jovic said. “It was just to open up the court a little bit better, to not rush into the shots all the time, find some more width. So I tried to do that, and it ended well.”
Novak, as in Djokovic. Jovic, with a Serbian father and a Croatian mother, shares roots with Djokovic, who was born in Belgrade, Serbia.
“That was one of the things in the forefront of my mind,” Jovic said, “because I think when Novak gives you some advice, you follow it.”
Putintseva ended qualifier Zeynep Sonmez’s run with a wild 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 victory, overcoming a significant disadvantage in crowd support. Immediately afterward, Putintseva didn’t know who her next opponent would be -- until it came up in her press conference.
Reporter: Your next opponent, you could play either Jovic or Paolini?
Putintseva: :I don't know which one I'm playing. Thank you for telling me. My coach will do the job. I'm chill about it. Yeah, I just want to enjoy this moment.”
The 31-year-old who represents Kazakhstan will be a tough out; she’s now reached the fourth round here five times and is a three-time major quarterfinalist.
Australian Open: Day 8 order of play
Rod Laver Arena
11:30 a.m. local; 7:30 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Aryna Sabalenka [1] vs Victoria Mboko (CAN) [17]
Followed by
Not before 1:30 p.m. local; 9:30 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) [1] vs Tommy Paul (USA) [19]
7 p.m. local; 3 a.m. ET (Sunday)
-- Alexander Bublik (KAZ) [10] vs Alex de Minaur (AUS) [6]
-- Elina Svitolina (UKR) [12] vs Mirra Andreeva [8]
Margaret Court Arena
11:30 a.m. local; 7:30 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Laura Siegemund (GER) / Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs Olivia Gadecki (AUS) / John Peers (AUS)
Not before 12:30 p.m. local; 8:30 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Storm Hunter (AUS) / Maya Joint (AUS) vs Anna Danilina (KAZ) / Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) [7]
Not before 2:30 p.m. local; 10:30 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Coco Gauff (USA) [3] vs Karolina Muchova (CZE) [19]
Not before 4 p.m. local; midnight ET (Sunday)
-- Daniil Medvedev [11] vs Learner Tien (USA) [25]
John Cain Arena
11 a.m. local; 7 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Robert Cash (USA) / JJ Tracy (USA) [14] vs Marcel Granollers (ESP) / Horacio Zeballos (ARG) [3]
Not before 1 p.m. local; 9 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) vs Iva Jovic (USA) [29]
-- Adam Pavlasek (CZE) / John-Patrick Smith (AUS) vs Luke Johnson (GBR) / Jan Zielinski (POL)
Not before 5 p.m. local; 1 a.m. ET (Sunday)
-- Alexander Zverev (GER) [3] vs Francisco Cerundolo (ARG) [18]
KIA Arena
11 a.m. local; 7 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Sadio Doumbia (FRA) / Fabien Reboul (FRA) [12] vs Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG) / Camilo Ugo Carabelli (ARG)
Followed by
-- Katerina Siniakova (CZE) / Taylor Townsend (USA) [1] vs Miyu Kato (JPN) / Fanny Stollar (HUN) [15]
Not before 2:30 p.m. local; 10:30 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Christian Harrison (USA) / Neal Skupski (GBR) [6] vs Tallon Griekspoor (NED) / Botic van de Zandschulp (NED)
-- Iva Jovic (USA) / Victoria Mboko (CAN) vs Elise Mertens (BEL) / Shuai Zhang (CHN) [4]
-- Taylor Townsend (USA) / Nikola Mektic (CRO) [4] vs Storm Hunter (AUS) / Hugo Nys (MON)
1573 Arena
11 a.m. local; 7 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Ellen Perez (AUS) / Demi Schuurs (NED) [8] vs Eri Hozumi (JPN) / Fang-Hsien Wu (TPE)
-- Erin Routliffe (NZL) / Andre Goransson (SWE) vs Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) / Manuel Guinard (FRA)
-- Asia Muhammad (USA) / Evan King (USA) vs Luisa Stefani (BRA) / Marcelo Arevalo (ESA) [2]
-- Olivia Nicholls (GBR) / Henry Patten (GBR) [7] vs Anna Danilina (KAZ) / JJ Tracy (USA)
-- Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) / Luke Johnson (GBR) vs Maya Joint (AUS) / Matthew Romios (AUS)
ANZ Arena
11 a.m. local; 7 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Cristina Bucsa (ESP) / Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) [9] vs Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) / Luisa Stefani (BRA) [5]
Followed by
-- Ymerali Ibraimi (AUS) vs Thilo Behrmann (AUT) [10]
Not before 12:30 p.m. local; 8:30 p.m. ET (Saturday)
-- Renee Alame (AUS) vs Ciara Harding (USA)
-- Talia Gibson (AUS) / Matthew Ebden (AUS) vs Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) / Mate Pavic (CRO) [5]
-- Irina Khromacheva / Christian Harrison (USA) or Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) / Jan Zielinski (POL) vs Tereza Mihalikova (SVK) / Lloyd Glasspool (GBR) [8]