The 21-year-old West Australian defeated world No.7 Jasmine Paolini, the two-time singles grand slam runner-up in 2024 and the 2025 French Open doubles champion, 7-5 2-6 6-1 in a tick over two hours on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) in California.
"Honestly just completely speechless, this is becoming even more of a fairytale for me every single day," Gibson, participating in her first WTA 1000 main draw, said during her on-court post-game interview after her first win over a top-10 player.
"I think just at the moment I just have a lot of confidence in how I'm playing, especially after the Aussie summer.
"I think everything is clicking at the moment ... I'm over the moon."
Gibson has burst her way into the WTA top 100 this week after two wins in qualifying were followed up by successes over American Ann Li, 11th-seeded Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova and Denmark's 17th-ranked Clara Tauson.
In the process, Gibson has become the first qualifier to reach the tournament's quarters in 11 years and first Aussie since Casey DellAcqua in 2014.
Gibson and her 30-year-old Italian opponent each fired down four aces, the Aussie dished up five double-faults to one and lost serve three times, but broke on five occasions from 13 opportunities.
The Australian's victory set up a clash with 14th-seeded Czech Linda Noskova, who crushed the Philippines' Alexandra Eala 6-2 6-0.
Aryna Sabalenka meantime credits her new puppy, Ash, with providing "mental health support" as she continues to rack up victories and maintain her standing as the top-ranked player in the women's game.
Sabalenka brought her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel to a post-match interview on the Tennis Channel following her 6-2 6-4 round-of-16 victory over Naomi Osaka.
"I feel like I'm much more settled, calm, more in control," said the Belarusian, who has a history of emotional on-court outbursts.
"Whenever I feel like going crazy on my team, I just pet Ash and I feel better."
Sabalenka, who will next face 10th-ranked Canadian Victoria Mboko after her 6-4 6-1 win over sixth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova, shared news of her puppy in a social media post last week, introducing the "new addition" to Team Tiger, her support team of coaches, trainers and other staff.
Sabalenka said she wanted her dog's name to be related somehow to New York and the US Open.
"Apple doesn't sound right," she said.
So she went with a nod to American tennis great and civil rights activist Arthur Ashe, after whom the main US Open stadium court is named.
With AP.
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