Paula Badosa stuns Coco Gauff in Australian Open quarters: Stats
What's the story
Former World No. 2 tennis player Paula Badosa has taken a giant leap in her career by beating Coco Gauff in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
The win sees Badosa enter a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time.
The 27-year-old Spaniard beat Gauff 7-5, 6-4 at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.
This was also Gauff's first defeat of the year after a stellar run.
Career revival
Badosa's comeback after career-threatening injury
Badosa, who was named 2024's Comeback Player of the Year after suffering a severe back injury, had earlier lost two major quarterfinals in her career.
However, she flipped the script with a win over Gauff in a 1 hour 43 minutes match.
The win also marks Badosa's first-ever Top 10 victory at a Grand Slam tournament, further solidifying her comeback.
Post-match reflections
Badosa reflects on her performance and comeback
Speaking after the match, Badosa was pleased with her performance.
"Today I came in, and I wanted to play my best game, and I think I did it," she said.
Despite Gauff's strong start, Badosa held her nerves after getting the first break of the match at 5-5.
She also spoke about her journey back from injury, saying a year ago she wasn't sure if she could continue playing due to her back injury.
Details
Match stats and H2H record
Gauff doled out 4 aces compared to Badosa's three. However, she committed six double faults, four more than Badosa (2).
Despite hitting more than double the winners than Badosa (31 to 15), Gauff also registered 41 unforced errors against Badosa's 23.
Badosa had a 64% win on the 1st serve and a 68% win on the 2nd.
She converted 4/10 break points.
This was the pair's 7th H2H meeting on the WTA Tour. Badosa owns a 4-3 win-loss record now.
Records
Massive records for Badosa
As per Opta, Badosa has also claimed her first WTA top 10 win at a Grand Slam event, previously holding a 0-3 record - losing to Kiki Bertens, Petra Kvitova and her potential next opponent, Sabalenka.
Badosa has become only the fourth Spanish player in the Open Era to reach a women's singles semi-final at a Grand Slam event - Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Conchita Martinez and Garbine Muguruza.
Information
38-19 win-loss record at Grand Slams
Badosa has reached her maiden Grand Slam semis. She owns a 11-5 win-loss record at the Australian Open. Overall at Grand Slams, she has a tally of 38-19.
Semifinal anticipation
Badosa's triumphant finish and upcoming semi-final
Despite a slight hiccup when she couldn't serve out victory at 5-2, Badosa sealed her semifinal berth with two aces, an unreturned serve, and a forehand winner in the final game.
With this win, she becomes only the fourth Spaniard to reach the semi-finals in a Grand Slam women's singles event.
She will now face the winner of Tuesday night's quarter-final between World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 21 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.