Round 4 of the 2025 Australian Open has reached the halfway point and the next stop is the quarter-finals. For those who punched their ticket on Sunday, the trophy is in sight.
The number of Americans in the field has decreased, but Coco Gauff continues to get the job done on the court. The No. 3 seed dropped her first set to Belinda Bencic but roared back to take the second and third sets, winning 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in two hours and 26 minutes.
At the end of the match, Gauff mourned the (possibly temporary) death of the social platform TikTok in the US with her written camera message.
Tommy Paulthe No. 12 seed and the highest-ranked American man left in the tournament took care of business in a big way against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, beating him 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 in just 87 minutes. His next match against Alexander Zverev will be only his third appearance in a Grand Slam quarter-final, although he has previously enjoyed success at the Aussie Open. His best ever Grand Slam result came at the 2023 Australian Open, when he reached the semi-finals.
Carlos Alcarazthe No. 3 seed in the men’s singles, got a break in his Round 4 match when his opponent Jack Draper retired after two sets with a hip injury. Draper had a chance to win the first set and pushed Alcaraz to a 7–5 victory, but his level of play dropped sharply in the second set as his “ticking time bomb” of a hip injury hampered him enough to force his retirement after one set . hour and 35 minutes.
No. 1 seed and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka sailed past Mirra Andreeva to win 6-1, 6-2 in just 62 minutes. She has not lost a single set in the tournament yet. The No. 2 male seed Alexander Zverev mostly had it easy against Ugo Humbert, winning 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, but dropping his first set of the competition. Number 11 also advances to the quarter-finals Paula Badosa and no. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkovawhich upset No. 18 Donna Vekic.
Novak Djokovic boycotts post-match interview
Novak Djokovic will face Alcaraz in the quarter-finals after beating Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4), but true to form, Djokovic’s non-tennis behavior has once again made headlines. Djokovic skipped the traditional on-court interview after the victory as something of a protest against Channel Nine broadcaster Tony Jones, who was criticized last week for a TV segment in which he mocked Serbian fans and Djokovic himself.
“Welcome back to Melbourne Park, where you can see the Novak Djokovic fans, they are in full voice. The chants are pretty special,” Jones said to open the segment. He then turned to the Serbian fans, who were chanting in the crowd behind him, and started singing to them.
“Novak, he’s overrated. Novak has been one. Novak, kick him out. Boy, I’m glad they can’t hear me.”
Djokovic addressed the crowd after his Round 4 victory without the aid of a microphone, and when interviewer Jim Courier tried to hand him the microphone, Djokovic refused.
“A few days ago, the famous sports journalist, who works for the official broadcaster Channel Nine here in Australia, made fun of Serbian fans and also made insulting and insulting comments to me,” Djokovic told the crowd, via the Guardian. “And since then he has chosen not to make any public apology. Neither does Channel Nine. Because they are official broadcasters, I have chosen not to give interviews for Channel Nine.”