Kenin puts end to Gauff's run

Melbourne, Australia

It made sense to Sofia Kenin that Coco Gauff would be the one getting all of the attention and generating all of the buzz.

That's only natural when Gauff is 15 and making tennis history time and time again.

"Yeah, I mean, the hype is for her. She's obviously done great stuff, of course. It's absolutely normal. Just (tried) not to let that get in my head," Kenin said. "Of course, I didn't do it for the hype. I did it for myself, because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it."

Kenin stopped Gauff's latest Grand Slam run by beating her 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0 in the Australian Open's fourth round on Sunday.

Like Gauff, Kenin is a young — although, at 21, not quite as young — American and she reached her first major quarterfinal with the victory.

"I want to show who I am, show my best tennis, show why I'm there, why I belong," the 14th-seeded Kenin said. "I'm doing that."

In her previous match, the 67th-ranked Gauff beat Naomi Osaka to become the youngest player in the professional era to defeat the reigning women's champion at the Australian Open. At Wimbledon last year, Gauff became the youngest qualifier ever at that tournament, beat Venus Williams in the first round and made it all the way to the fourth.

Entering Sunday, Gauff was 8-2 in Grand Slam action, with her only losses to women who have been ranked No. 1 and own multiple major titles: Halep (at Wimbledon) and Osaka (at the U.S. Open).

Hence the aforementioned hype.

Kenin, next faces another woman making her Slam quarterfinal debut, 78th-ranked Ons Jabeur of Tunisia. Jabeur was a 7-6 (4), 6-1 winner against 27th-seeded Wang Qiang, who surprised Serena Williams in the third round.

Also advancing to a quarterfinal showdown were No. 1 Ash Barty — trying to become the first Australian...