Paula Badosa makes her feelings known after beating Coco Gauff to reach maiden Slam SF at Australian Open

Paula Badosa made her feelings known after securing a spot in her first-ever Grand Slam semifinals at the 2025 Australian Open. Badosa achieved this feat by defeating Coco Gauff and advancing to the final four of the tournament.

Seeded 11th seed at the Melbourne Major, Badosa began her campaign by defeating Wang Xinyu 6-3, 7-6(5) in the first round and she then went on to triumph over Australian wild card Talia Gibson with a dominant score of 6-1, 6-0 in the second round.

The Spaniard defeated 17th seed, Marta Kostyuk, with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and Olga Danilović 6-1, 7-6(2) in the third and fourth rounds, respectively. Most recently, in the quarterfinals, Badosa defeated third seed Coco Gauff 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 43 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena to secure her place in the semifinals.

After her win over Gauff, during the post-match on-court interview, Paula Badosa shared that she was "emotional" after reaching the semifinals of the 2025 Australian Open.

Badosa praised Coco Gauff's performance in the match, describing it as "insane," and expressed her satisfaction at overcoming the challenges the American posed to win the match.

“Emotional. I'm a bit emotional. As you know I’m a very emotional person and overcoming something like this. The last Slam, the quarterfinals were very tough. So today I came in and I wanted to play my best game. I think I did it . Coco [Gauff] at the beginning, she was playing insane tennis but I’m super proud of the level I gave today,” Badosa said.

Prior to her campaign at the Australian Open, Paula Badosa competed at the 2025 Brisbane International, where she was defeated by Elina Avanesyan in the second round. She then participated in the Adelaide International, where she triumphed over Peyton Stearns in the first round before falling to Ashlyn Krueger in the second round.

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Paula Badosa will face Aryna Sabalenka or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the 2025 Australian Open SF

Paula Badosa at the 2025 Australian Open [Image Source: Getty Images]

Paula Badosa will face top seed Aryna Sabalenka or 27th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the semifinals of the 2025 Australian Open.

Sabalenka came into the Melbourne Major after winning the 2025 Brisbane International, where she defeated Polina Kudermetova in the final. She started her campaign at the Australian Open by defeating Sloane Stephens and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the first two rounds.

The World No.1 then went on to triumph over Clara Tauson and 14th seed Mirra Andreeva in the third and fourth rounds to advance to the quarterfinals. A victory in the last eight would see her through to the semifinals against Badosa.

Paula Badosa and Sabalenka have met seven times on the WTA Tour, with the latter winning five of those matches. Their most recent encounter was in the third round of the 2024 French Open, which the World No.1 won 7-5, 6-1.

On the other hand, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Yuan Yue, compatriot Anastasia Potapova, Laura Siegemund, and 18th seed Donna Vekic in the first four rounds to secure her spot in the quarterfinals against Sabalenka. A win in the quarterfinals would guarantee her a place in the final four against Badosa.

Paula Badosa and Pavlyuchenkova have faced each other twice on the WTA Tour, with the Spaniard emerging victorious in both matches. Their most recent meeting was in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Cincinnati Open, where Badosa won 6-3, 6-2.