Badosa battles into last 16 at Australian Open

Spaniard Paula Badosa, the No 11 seed, advanced to the last 16 of the Australian Open by winning against Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, the No 17 seed, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 at Melbourne Park on Friday.

Badosa, ranked No 12, will face the winner of the match between Serb Olga Danilovic and American Jessica Pegula, the No 7 seed, next.

The Spaniard was supported by her boyfriend, Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas, who watched from courtside.

“He was giving me good advice, go for it, be aggressive,” Badosa said. “I think he was more nervous than me.”

“On social media, everyone was ‘Paula and Stefanos’ “

Badosa was captured on camera gesturing toward her team. At first it looked like she was gesturing toward Tsistipas, suggesting he needed to give her more help, but the Spaniard said she was actually waving in the direction of her coach.

“It wasn’t with Stefanos, it was with my coach,” she said. “I get it because now I was before coming here, I was on social media, and everyone was, like, Paula and Stefanos. They like to create all that because, of course, it’s going to get more views if they say Stefanos than if they say my coach.

“I’m always interacting with my coach, honestly. He’s the one that’s there with me. Stefanos is just a support. It’s emotional support. But he’s been supporting me so, so much on that.

“I was talking to them, especially to my coach, because it was very windy, and he was asking me maybe to do some things that I totally get it, but in that moment I couldn’t do it as well, you know?

“So yeah, it was a little bit the frustration of the wind. As you see, I don’t like to play with wind. It was tough today on that thing, but I think mentally I accepted it in some moments, especially in the third set. That’s why I think my level increased a bit there.”

Ahead of her victory, the Spaniard beat Chinese Xinyu Wang (6-3, 7-6 (5)) and Australian wildcard Talia Gibson (6-1, 6-0).

Kostyuk, ranked No 18, won against Japanese qualifier Nao Hibino (3-6, 6-3, 6-1) and German Jule Niemeier (6-3, 6-0) in the previous rounds of the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2025 season.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):

• Emma Raducanu vs. Iga Swiatek
• Eva Lys vs. Jaqueline Cristian
• Yulia Putintseva vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Emma Navarro vs. Ons Jabeur
• Elina Svitolina vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Veronika Kudermetova
• Madison Keys vs. Danielle Collins
• Elena Rybakina vs. Dayana Yastremska
• Olga Danilovic vs. Jessica Pegula
• Coco Gauff vs. Leylah Fernandez
• Naomi Osaka vs. Belinda Bencic
• Magdalena Frech vs. Mirra Andreeva: friday
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Clara Tauson: 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Donna Vekic (18) beat Diana Shnaider (12): 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 7-5
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (27) beat Laura Siegemund: 6-1, 6-2