Former World No.2 Paula Badosa broke new ground on Tuesday in Melbourne with a 7-5, 6-4 win over World No.3 Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open — a win that puts the Spaniard into a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time in her career.
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The 27-year-old Badosa, 2024’s Comeback Player of the Year following a career-threatening back injury in the prior year, had previously been 0-2 in her career in major quarterfinals before she handed Gauff her first loss of 2025 in 1 hour and 43 minutes inside Rod Laver Arena. After the first 10 games of the match went with serve, Badosa secured the first break of the match at 5-5, and never trailed on the scoreboard from that point on.
The win also gave Badosa her first-ever Top 10 victory at a Grand Slam tournament.
“Today I came in, and I wanted to play my best game, and I think I did it,” Badosa said post-match. “Coco, at the beginning, she was playing insane tennis, but I’m super proud of the level I gave today.”
“A year ago, I was here with my back [injury] that I didn’t know if I had to retire from this sport, and now I’m here, playing the best in the world. I won today, I’m in the semifinals, and I never would think that a year later, I would be here.”
Gauff racked up double Badosa’s winner total in the match — 31 to 15 — but the World No.3 also recorded 41 unforced errors to the Spaniard’s 23. Her serve also wobbled: She landed 60% of her first serves, but double-faulted six times and won just 35% of the points when she was forced to hit a second serve. All of that totaled to 10 break point opportunities for Badosa, who converted four.