World No. 3 Coco Gauff exited the 2025 Australian Open on Monday night, falling 7-5, 6-4 to Spain’s No. 11 Paula Badosa in the Grand Slam’s quarterfinal round.
Gauff’s recent improvements seemed to fade in her first loss of the year, which saw the 2025 United Cup champ record 41 unforced errors, including 28 missed forehands and six double-faults.
As a result, Badosa advances to her first-ever Grand Slam semifinal, a marked comeback after a 2023 injury nearly ended her career.
“I would never think that, a year after, I would be here,” Badosa said post-match. “I’ve been through a lot.”
Sabalenka looms after quarterfinal victory
Badosa moves on to face back-to-back defending champion Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday, as the world No. 1 sets her sights on becoming the first three-peat Australian Open women’s champ this century.
Sabalenka advanced past No. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in an early Tuesday morning quarterfinal to reach her 10th major semifinal in her last 11 Grand Slams.
The 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory didn’t come easily, though, as…
