Paula Badosa stuns third seed Coco Gauff to reach Australian Open semi-finals | Australian Open 2025

It has been 10 months since Paula Badosa was informed by her doctors that her career might be over. During the 2023 tennis season, not long after she had been ranked No. 2 in the world, Badosa suffered a debilitating stress fracture in her back that had left her in significant pain and forced her to withdraw from every grand slam tournament that year. In March last year, the 27-year-old fought for his career.

The initial solution was cortisone injections to manage the immediate pain and inflammation, which allowed her to return to the ride, although her long-term future remained uncertain. She has used her time back in the sport incredibly well. After spending the past nine months faithfully re-establishing his place among the elite, Badosa broke new ground on Tuesday by reaching the semifinals of a grand slam tournament for the first time in his career.

In the tense final moments of one of the biggest matches of her career, Badosa brilliantly held on to upset Coco Gauff, the third seed and one of the tournament favourites, closing out a brilliant 7-5, 6-4 victory.

“I’m a little emotional,” Badosa, the 11th seed, said afterward. “I’m a very emotional person and it was very hard to overcome something like that, the last slam, the quarterfinals. Today, I came in, I wanted to play my best tennis. I did. Coco, in the beginning she played crazy tennis .I’m super proud of the level I gave today.”

As she struggled to find a way back into professional tennis, Badosa fell out of the top 100 last year, falling as low as no. 140 in May. She has made a remarkable comeback since then, putting together a string of extremely consistent results and few bad losses. With one of the best results of his career, Badosa will also return to the top 10 for the first time since 2022.

A former French Open junior champion, Badosa struggled with depression and mental health issues in his early years on the professional circuit. She eventually began to climb the rankings in 2021, reaching no. 2 a year later. Even at the height of his success, Badosa struggled under pressure in the grand slam tournaments. Until last year’s US Open, where she reached the quarterfinals, she had only reached one major quarterfinal.

For Gauff, this disappointing performance underscores the considerable work that still needs to be done to fully address her weaknesses. After ending the 2024 season by winning the second biggest title of her career at the WTA Finals, Gauff started 2025 playing the best tennis of her career as she defeated Iga Swiatek, her former nemesis, in a match of extremely high quality. She entered the Australian Open as the most in-form player in the draw.

However, her level had not been that high in Melbourne. While significant improvements to her serve and especially her forehand have driven her recent success, her forehand capitulated against Badosa. Gauff struggled to land routine forehands for most of the match, and she finished the match with 28 unforced errors compared to just seven from her backhand. It was by far the worst shot on the field.

Despite performing so far below the standards she sets in less important matches, Gauff took the defeat in her stride. “I think it’s one of those things that maybe a few years ago I would have felt a lot more devastated and felt like the world was ending, but now I think it’s just disappointed that I could have done a little bit better in some areas. I tried my best with what I had today and that’s all I can do,” she said.

Against his struggling opponent, Badosa played an extremely smart game. She remained consistent early in both sets, drawing out forehand errors from Gauff with her shot tolerance and defense, but she closed out both sets and played solid attacking tennis. Badosa broke serve at 5-5 in the first set with a brilliant return game that included three winners. Then, when Gauff picked up one of Badosa’s two breaks and threatened to pull back in the match, Badosa responded with a superb hold at the close, a forehand winner to secure a huge win.

“A year ago I was here with my back that I didn’t know if I was going to retire from this sport,” Badosa said. “Now I’m here playing against the best in the world. I won today, I’m in the semi-finals. I never thought that a year later I’d be here.”