Coco Gauff’s rapid rise at the start of the year came to an end at the Australian Open following a quarter-final defeat to Paula Badosa 7-5, 6-4. The American was on a 13-match winning streak before Tuesday’s clash at Melbourne Park and seemed to have a great chance of winning her second Grand Slam title.
Although a late service break offered a glimmer of hope, it was surpassed by an inspired one on Rod Laver Arena, as the Spaniard reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
“It’s tough right after the match and I’m still disappointed, but I think the way I played, even though it wasn’t my best, I gave it my all on the court, so that’s something to be proud of,” Gauff told reporters.
“I fought until the end. Some matches will go in my favor, others won’t. I think it’s just one of those situations where maybe a few years ago I would have felt a lot more devastated and that end-of-the-world sadness.”
Badosa, seeded number 11 in this tournament, won a tight first set after breaking Gauff’s serve at 5-5, producing a superb backhand volley followed by a devastating forehand winner on the next point. The set was wrapped up soon after when she forced Gauff to miss a long forehand — only the second time this tournament that the 20-year-old has lost a set.
With just one break of service in the first set, the second was a different story. Badosa took the lead after Gauff struggled with a series of forehand errors, before the 2023 US Open champion fought back to level at 2-2. But inconsistency continued to hurt the American star’s forehand — she made 41 unforced errors during the match — and she fell to 5-2 after a double fault.
From there, Gauff began to find his rhythm, although it was too late. Badosa completed the surprise with a forehand winner to seal his first Grand Slam quarter-final victory in what was his third attempt.
After the match, Badosa revealed that he considered retirement last year due to a chronic back injury.
“My back wasn’t responding well and I couldn’t find solutions,” the 27-year-old athlete told reporters.
“But I wanted to give it one last try, one last chance to finish the year and see how it would go. And well, here I am. I’m really proud of what we went through with my entire team and especially how I fought through it all, especially mentally.”
Badosa will now face two-time champion Aryna Sabalenka or Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the semifinals of the Australian Open, on Thursday (23).
