MELBOURNE, Australia >> Coco Gauff’s forehand and serve abandoned her in the worst way and at the worst time at the Australian Open on Tuesday, and the No. 3-seeded American was eliminated in the quarterfinals by No. 11 Paula Badosa of Spain 7-5, 6-4.

Gauff entered the match at Rod Laver Arena with a 9-0 record in 2025 and on a 13-match winning streak that dated to her title at the WTA Finals in November. Using tweaks to some key strokes to great effect in the hopes of earning a second Grand Slam title at age 20, the 2023 U.S. Open champion had only dropped one set through four matches at Melbourne Park this year.

“She’s full of confidence. But I’m playing well, too,” Badosa said ahead of the contest. “I’m ready to face her.”

Was she ever. And Badosa now heads to her first Grand Slam semifinal at age 27.

“I’m a bit emotional,” said Badosa, who had been 0-2 in major quarterfinals. “I wanted to play my best tennis. I think I did. … I’m super proud of the level I gave today.”

Gauff finished with 41 unforced errors, a total that included six double-faults — including on the last point of the game that put Badosa ahead 5-2 in the second set — and 28 missed forehands.

Gauff never earned so much as a single break point until after she already trailed by a set and a break in the second.

Badosa reached a career-best ranking of No. 2 in 2022, but then dealt with a serious back injury that had her contemplating ending her tennis career.

“I would never think that, a year after, I would be here,” Badosa said. “I’ve been through a lot. In the past, I was one of the best players in the world.”

She next will go up against No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion in Melbourne, or No. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the runner-up at the 2021 French Open. Their quarterfinal was to be played Tuesday night.

That was scheduled to be followed by the day’s most-anticipated matchup: Novak Djokovic vs. Carlos Alcaraz. Djokovic, 37, is aiming for an 11th Australian Open trophy and a record 25th Grand Slam singles title overall. Alcaraz seeks to complete a career Grand Slam at age 21 by adding a championship in Australia to the ones he already owns: two from Wimbledon plus one apiece from the U.S. Open and French Open.

Sinner and Swiatek win ITF world champion awards >> Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek have won the International Tennis Federation’s 2024 world champion awards.

Swiatek edged out Aryna Sabalenka for the women’s singles award in the list announced by the ITF.

Swiatek won the French Open plus four WTA 1000 titles, an Olympic bronze medal at the Paris Games and also helped Poland to the Billie Jean King Cup semifinals. Sabalenka won the Australian and U.S. Open crowns and finished the year ranked No. 1.

Sinner is the first Italian to win the award.

Sinner gets past Rune in Australian Open >> First came the medical timeouts, one each for Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune with the temperature above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) at the Australian Open.

Then came the bizarre sight of a 20-minute delay because the net at Rod Laver Arena detached from the court after being hit by a big Sinner serve.

In the end, the breaks in action were “lucky,” Sinner said, because they gave him a chance to catch his breath, put his struggles aside and emerge with the victory — as he keeps doing, no matter the site or the circumstances. The defending champion moved into the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park on Monday by eliminating the 13th-seeded Rune 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Men’s basketball

Auburn unanimous No. 1 in top 25 poll >> A wild week of upsets and court stormings led to a massive shakeup in the AP Top 25.

One constant: Auburn.

The Tigers were the unanimous pick at No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll holding on to the top spot following a week in which 19 ranked teams lost at least once — including seven teams in the top 10.

Auburn claimed the program’s second No. 1 ranking last week and won both its games despite playing without injured big man Johni Broome. The Tigers rolled over No. 14 Mississippi State 88-66 and survived a late comeback to beat then-No. 19 Georgia 70-68.

No. 2 Duke moved up a spot after winning both of its games last week and swapped places with No. 3 Iowa State, which blew out No. 12 Kansas but lost to No. 23 West Virginia. Alabama and Florida rounded out the top five despite each losing a game last week.

Timberwolves DiVincenzo out indefinitely >> Donte DiVincenzo, who recently moved into the Minnesota Timberwolves starting lineup, is out indefinitely with a big toe injury, the team announced before a game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

DiVincenzo, a 6-foot-4 guard in his seventh season out of Villanova, had missed the last two games with the injury.

Women’s basketball

UCLA, South Carolina stay 1 and 2 in top 25 poll >> South Carolina has so far cruised through the difficult part of its conference schedule and remained No. 2 in The Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 picking up a first-place vote to gain a bit of ground on top-ranked UCLA.

The Gamecocks are in the midst of a five-game stretch against ranked opponents. So far they’ve beaten Texas by 17, Alabama by 18 and Oklahoma by 41 on Sunday. They face No. 5 LSU on Thursday and No. 17 Tennessee on Jan. 27.

UCLA received 27 first-place ballots this week while No. 3 Notre Dame got the other two. USC remained No. 4.

After LSU were UConn, Texas and Maryland — the Longhorns faced the Terrapins later Monday in the Coretta Scott King Classic — and TCU and Kansas State moved up to ninth and 10th, respectively, after losses by Ohio State and Oklahoma.