A third consecutive Australian Open quarter-final beckons for Ash Barty but the world number one is far from satisfied as she eyes a drought-ending title in Melbourne.
Barty produced a masterclass to blitz American Shelby Rogers 6-3 6-4 in the fourth round on Monday.
Not since Wendy Turnbull in 1984 has an Australian woman reached three successive quarter-finals or more at Melbourne Park, where Barty will meet Karolina Muchova in the last eight.
But 2019 French Open champion Barty is dreaming big as she looks to become the first Australian woman since 1978 to take the title.
"We're not done yet," Barty,a semi-finalist last year, said. "Obviously it's exciting to be in another quarter-final of a grand slam, particularly here in Australia.
"If we had looked at the way we were preparing during our pre-season, to have the start that we have had so far is really encouraging, but certainly not satisfied with where we're at at the moment.
"We will keep chipping away and keep trying to do the right things to progress as far as we can."
Barty arrived in Melbourne at the start of the year having not played in a competitive WTA Tour event since February 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked about the prolonged break, Barty – who stepped away from tennis in 2014 before returning in 2016 after playing cricket – said: "I think I know that I've done the work. I know that we prepared in the right way during the pre-season.
"We've done all the work to try to give myself the opportunity to play a good level of tennis and to a level that I know I'm capable of. It's just knowing that I put the trust in the work that we've done, more than surprising myself.
"I think I've known that I've done the work. I have the ability to play at this level and then it's just about going about all of our processes, our routines the right way. All of those came back quite naturally.
"It's something that I've practiced a lot, and I gain my confidence from that practice and from those preseasons as opposed to just match results."
Osaka has set sights on grand slam title – Mouratoglou
Naomi Osaka is targeting a fifth grand slam win of her career, so says Patrick Mouratoglou.
Osaka, who has won the Australian Open twice and the US Open twice, will head into 2025 as the world number 59.
The former world number one has had a stop-start career in recent years, as she took time away from the sport to focus on her mental health, before then giving birth.
She has taken part in 18 WTA Tour-level competitions this season, with her best effort a run to the quarter-finals at the Qatar Open in February.
Mouratoglou, a former coach of Serena Williams, has been helping to guide the 27-year-old, and he explained Osaka has set her sights on another major crown.
"[With] Serena, motivation was extremely key after she beat the record of [Martina] Navratilova and Chris Evert [to reach 23 Grand Slam singles titles]," he told Sky Sports.
"But I think we worked so well together because I think we were both motivating each other all the time. I knew exactly how to talk to her. She knew exactly how to talk to me. I was pushing her, she was pushing me and that was like that every day.
"So that's why it works so well. For Naomi, it's different because she really feels she has to give and do much more. She had two very difficult years.
"First, she had this mental health issue, and then she had a baby. So she's been out, and then she restarted the year this season and it was not a very good season.
"Before the first tournament we did together she was 80 in the world and she knows she can do much better than that.
"She's extremely motivated to come back and win grand slams, and it's a pleasure for me because that's the dream of every coach: to have a player who has that level of motivation."
WTA Finals: Gauff never gave up hope in topsy turvy showpiece
Coco Gauff explained how she kept her cool despite the helter-skelter nature of her WTA Finals clash with Qinwen Zheng.
Gauff prevailed 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2) in Riyadh on Saturday to become the youngest WTA Finals champion since 2004.
She was pushed all the way by Olympic champion Zheng, who led 5-3 at one stage in the decider and also clawed back four matchpoints before Gauff eventually got over the line.
"Tired, it's been a hard season," Gauff told Sky Sports after her victory.
"It was a really great match. Qinwen played some unbelievable tennis. I was just trying my best to hang in there and I never gave up.
"I was just telling myself, 'It's another point, another chance'. I've been in situations like this in the past and have been able to turn it around, and was able to do it again."
Gauff is the first player since Serena Williams (12, between 2013 and 2015) to win at least eight consecutive hard-court finals.
The 20-year-old collapsed on the court after her winning shot, something the American quipped she had mentally reserved for grand slam victories.
"At the end of the match, when I, like, fell on the floor, I didn't think I was going to do that," said Gauff, who has secured the year-end world number three ranking.
"I made a promise to myself that I will save that for grand slams. But honestly, to the way the match went, I was like, 'I'm just tired. I just want to lay on the ground.'
"I know I was like a couple of points away from losing, but, you know, I just tried to stay in the moment, honestly, and I'm really proud of myself."
For Zheng, it was a case of taking the positives from the first WTA Finals showpiece match that had to be settled by a third-set tie-break/
She said: "The match was very close, and then, you know, at the end, when you play this type of match, it's not about tennis, it's just about choices on court.
"When you lose a match, there's lessons you have to learn. So I would say it's a lot of positive things, because it's my first WTA Finals, but at the same time, I feel hurt to lose this match. But we will see. Maybe next time I will be better."
WTA Finals: Gauff downs Zheng to clinch title
Coco Gauff triumphed over Qinwen Zheng after three sets to become the youngest WTA Finals champion in 20 years.
Having fallen behind in Saturday's final in Riyadh, Gauff bounced back to prevail 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2).
Gauff had squandered two match points when 6-5, 40-15 up in the decider, with Zheng clawing back to force a tie-break.
Yet, the American rediscovered her composure to cruise into a 5-0 lead, and though she saw another two match points fall by the wayside, Gauff got the job done at the fifth time of asking.
A short Zheng return clipped the top of the net, with Gauff scrambling from the baseline to meet it before flicking a forehand to the left of her opponent, with this year's Olympic champion unable to get there.
Gauff, who beat Iga Swiatek in the group stage and downed world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals, collapsed to the court in celebration, after winning what was the second-longest WTA Tour-level final of 2024.
Data Debrief: It's a marathon, not a sprint
Zheng made a blistering start, but despite going a break up in the second set, she could not maintain the momentum.
Gauff's wobble in the decider meant the WTA Finals championship match had to be decided by a third-set tie-break for the first time since the tournament's introduction in 1972.
At 20, Gauff is the youngest player to win the WTA Finals since Maria Sharapova in 2004, and the youngest American champion of the event since Serena Williams in 2001.
Only Nancy Richey and Anna Smashnova (10 each) have won more titles after their first 10 WTA Tour-level finals than Gauff (nine) in the Open Era.
Meanwhile, she is the first player since Williams (12, between the 2013 US Open and 2015 Cincinnati Open) to win at least eight consecutive hard-court finals, and the youngest to do so since Martina Hingis in 1998.
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