Coco Gauff beaten out of Australian Open by Belarusian champion Aryna Sabalenka

Coco Gauff lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open quarterfinals on Thursday, ending her hopes of winning two consecutive grand slam championships.

On Rod Laver Arena, defending champion Sabalenka won 7-6(7-2) 6-4 to capture her 13th straight victory at Melbourne Park, according to CNN.

In a close repeat of the US Open final from the previous year, where Gauff claimed her maiden major championship, the world No 2 gained control of the match with a break at 4-4 in the second set before serving out.

In the Saturday final, Sabalenka will now take on Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine or Zheng Qinwen of China, who have both made it to the grand slam final four for the first time.

American Gauff entered the match with a 10-0 record, hence this was her first loss of 2024.

“It was incredible match,” Sabalenka told reporters. “She’s a great player, always tough battles against her.

“I think the key was that I was able to stay focused no matter what, no matter what the score was, I just keep trying my best, keep fighting for it."

“Of course, I’m super happy to be in another final of a grand slam. Hopefully, I can do a little bit better than the last time.”

The two best-ranked players still in the draw battled in a tough opening set, with Sabalenka appearing to have the advantage at times. However, the Belarusian's strong groundstrokes forced Gauff to hold on to stay in the match.

With two unintentional errors and a double fault, Sabalenka was unable to serve out of the opening set at 5-3, but Gauff was equally unable to take advantage of her advantage when serving for the set at 6-5.

With a string of enormous forehands in the next tie-break, Sabalenka began to find her range and won the opening set when Gauff's return sailed wide.

The second set was equally matched as well, but this time neither player was able to find the crucial break.