Fran Jones follows up her career-best win by battling through to ASB Classic quarter-finals in Auckland
From 6-1 3-0 down, British No 3 Fran Jones battled back to reach the WTA Auckland quarter-finals; Watch the ATP and WTA Tours live on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app
Wednesday 7 January 2026 12:17, UK
Fran Jones followed up her career-best win over Emma Navarro by reaching the quarter-finals of the ASB Classic in Auckland.
The British No 3 claimed her first top-20 victory in the opening round after beating world No 15 Emma Navarro, and kept her run going with a 1-6 6-4 6-1 win against Austrian qualifier Sinja Kraus.
Jones looked to be heading for a rapid defeat at 6-1 3-0 down, but won 12 of the next 14 games to seal a remarkable turnaround and set up a last-eight meeting with seventh seed Wang Xinyu.
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The Yorkshirewoman's run should be enough to see her break into the world's top 70 for the first time.
Jones could be joined in the last eight by Katie Boulter, who takes on top seed Elina Svitolina, and fellow Brit Sonay Kartal, who goes up against German Ella Seidel.
Meanwhile, Cameron Norrie is in action against Nick Kyrgios' conqueror Aleksandar Kovacevic at the Brisbane International.
Gauff leads US past Greece into United Cup semis
Coco Gauff defeated Maria Sakkari before returning to clinch victory for the defending United Cup champions in the doubles as the US reached the semi-finals of the mixed team tournament after beating Greece 2-1 in Perth on Wednesday.
Gauff, a two-time Grand Slam champion, beat Sakkari 6-3 6-2 in an hour and 26 minutes to put the US in front before Stefanos Tsitsipas earned a 6-4 7-5 win over world No 9 Taylor Fritz to level the tie.
The 27-year-old was afforded little time to savour his first top 10 win since 2024, however, returning to the court just half an hour later alongside Sakkari to take on Gauff and Christian Harrison.
Momentum swung wildly in the hard-fought decider, with both teams taking a set apiece to send the match into a tie-break.
The US raced into a 5-0 lead, and though the Greek duo rallied to level at 6-6 a perfectly placed volley from Harrison squeezed through Tsitsipas's legs and sealed a 4-6 6-4 10-8 victory.
"I thought it was great level throughout, we just played free and aggressive," Gauff said.
Poland set up Australia blockbuster
Poland qualified for the quarter-finals after Hubert Hurkacz defeated Tallon Griekspoor 6-3 7-6 (7-4) and then Iga Swiatek followed with a 6-3 6-2 triumph against Suzan Lamens to clinch the tie against the Netherlands.
"I'm really happy that I found a way to be more solid in the middle of the first set because it was pretty even until then," Swiatek said.
"I felt like I had more control over the ball and could go for it. I'm really happy that we won this tie just with singles. It gives us good confidence going into the quarter-finals."
Katarzyna Kawa and Jan Zielinski completed a 3-0 sweep for Poland with a 6-3 3-6 10-4 win in mixed doubles against David Pel and Demi Schuurs.
Poland will face home favourite Australia Friday evening Sydney in what promises to be a blockbuster clash.
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