Gauff crashes out of Australian Open as Badosa makes maiden semi-final

No 11 seed Paula Badosa beat No 3 seed Coco Gauff 7-5, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon.

The win – which was her first over a top-10 opponent in majors – means that Badosa is through to her first-ever Grand Slam semi-final, having made the quarter-finals of both Roland-Garros and the US Open previously.

In doing so, she becomes just the fourth Spanish woman to make the final four of a Grand Slam since the beginning of the Open era.

“I’m a bit emotional. Overcoming something like this, the last Slam, the quarter-finals were a bit tough,” she shared after the match.

“I came in, I wanted to play my best game and I think I did that. At the beginning, Coco was playing insane tennis. I’m super proud of the level I gave today.

“I’ve been through a lot. I was in the past one of the best players in the world, but now I think I’m a better player, more mature, I think I manage emotions a little bit better.

“For me, this is a dream come true.”

Badosa pounces late

The match began with two straightforward holds, with just one point won on return.

The following two games were a little more complicated, however. Gauff went down 15-40 and was made to defend two breakpoints in a six-minute hold, before Badosa faced a similar task on her own serve, taking six minutes to hold after falling behind 0-30 initially.

Normal play resumed through to 5-5 as both held comfortably, despite low first-serve numbers from Badosa and Gauff landing the lion’s share of winners over the opening 10 games.

Badosa got a look at a break in the 11^th game, when a brilliant forehand up the line on first point sparked a shift for the Spaniard. 0-15 became 0-30 when Gauff hooked a forehand wide. A pair of errors quickly swung momentum back to the American, but when Badosa won a 14-shot rally courtesy of a perfectly struck volley, she earnt her first breakpoint since the third game.

This time, she capitalised, ripping a forehand past Gauff on the baseline to go up 6-5 and serve for the set. There were nervous times for Badosa as Gauff battled to 30-30, but she held her nerve to close out the set 7-5.

Errors, errors and more errors from Gauff

With 12 unforced errors and just three winners on the forehand side in the first set, Gauff needed to find her range quickly after returning from a toilet break between sets.

Instead, her woes deepened as double faults and more unforced errors handed Badosa a break in a 13-minute opening game.

Badosa consolidated the break in the next game, and with the No 3 seed down a set and a break, with her forehand misfiring, the No 11 seed looked on track for an upset.

In what was a one-dimensional clash – very much just aggressive baseline tennis from both – Gauff’s errors were handing the match to Badosa.

That is, until seemingly out of nowhere, Gauff seared two forehand winners in the opening three points of the third game. She held serve, then rode that momentum into Badosa’s service game, where she broke for the first time in the match. Suddenly, the second set was back on level-pegging.

The American’s comeback was short-lived, however, as in the very next game, Gauff lost her serve from 40-15 up thanks to her fifth double fault and 24th forehand error. A fourth break of the set came two games later, putting Badosa just a game away from a maiden Grand Slam semi-final.

With her back against the wall, two brilliant points followed by a fumbled volley by Badosa gave Gauff triple break point. She capitalised on her second chance, keeping her tournament alive for one more game.

One game became two, as Gauff held to ask the question of Badosa again.

This time, the Spaniard was resolute, holding serve to book the biggest match of her life on Thursday.

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