“It’s funny because, not too long ago or maybe a few years ago, I had a really bad stat line that if I lost the first set, I would lose the match,” said Gauff. “It was really bad, and I remember my dad telling me, ‘You have to fight!’ So every time I lose a first set, I think about it and try to dig even deeper.
Playing in sweltering conditions, Gauff quickly turned things around and never looked in danger after leveling the match at a set apiece, breaking Bencic twice to serve out the match in less than two and a half hours.
Next up for the American is Paula Badosa, a former world No. 2 who won the 2024 WTA Comeback Player of the Year award after overcoming a back injury to return to the world Top 20. Badosa was the first to advance to the quarter-finals, her first in Australia. , when she overturned a 2-5 second-set deficit against Olga Danilovic, and will look to reverse an even more daunting deficit against Gauff, having lost both of their 2024 meetings.
