Paula, you will face Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals
Paula BADOSA: I love Coco. I respect her enormously. She’s a great competitor. We always have matches lined up. The last one was really hard for me, because I won the first set and then the momentum changed in this semi-final in Beijing. In Rome, it was a bit similar. I remember all our matches very well. I hope I can get my revenge here.
This will be your seventh clash, but the first in a Grand Slam…
PB: It’s a special match. A Grand Slam quarter-final, on a big court, against her. I always loved playing against her. I have so much respect for Coco. I’ll be ready for this fight, again.
Gauff – Bencic – Match highlights – Australian Open
Video credit: Eurosport
Are you going to prepare in a particular way, especially mentally?
-PD: No, I’ll do as usual. In the round of 16, I’ll be honest, I was very nervous when I entered the court. Sometimes you see certain matches as opportunities to seize. This was the case on Sunday. I’m not going to lie. But I think I managed to handle it well. I will try to approach it like any other match. The difference, of course, is that I’m facing one of the best players in the world. She plays incredible tennis. I don’t think she’s lost a match yet this year. She has enormous confidence. But I play well too, I’m ready to face it.
What will be essential for you if you want to beat her?
PB: I think we are both aggressive players, with a big serve. For me, it’s going to be a tactical match. She moves very well. I’m going to have to be aggressive. Play my game. Try to focus a little more on me than on her. But I’m expecting a big fight. Sometimes, against this type of opponent, it just depends on the form of the D-Day. I hope it will be me.
You will also play to compete in a first Grand Slam semi-final…
PB: Yes, that would be very important to me. I have also not played a lot of quarter-finals in my life (two, Editor’s note, at Roland-Garros in 2021 and during the last US Open). With my team, after the US Open, we said to ourselves that the objective should be to return as often as possible to the quarter-finals, to have the experience of these moments, of these matches, and to know how to manage them. to go further. I will have this opportunity again. It’s my dream to be there in the last rounds of the Grand Slam.
