It was the surprise of the day at the Australian Open: the world number three, the American Coco Gauff was eliminated in the quarter-finals by the Spaniard Paula Badosa (12e world), Tuesday January 21, in Melbourne. In the men’s draw, the German Alexander Zverev won his ticket for the semi-finals.
A first for Paula Badosa
Paula Badosa had a good day down under. The 27-year-old Spaniard defeated the American Coco Gauff on Tuesday in two sets (7-5, 6-4), a first victory against a player from the Top 10 in the world in a Grand Slam, which allows her to reach the final four of one of the four major tournaments on the circuit for the first time in his career. The story is all the more beautiful as her opponent of the day, winner of the 2023 US Open, had not lost a match since November 2024.
“I’m super proud of my level of play. For me, it’s a dream come true”rejoiced Paula Badosa, on the court of the Rod Laver Arena, after the game. The former world number two, who had fallen down the rankings due to injuries, could find Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, world number one, in the semi-final, opposed in the quarterfinals to Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (32e).
Alexander Zverev heads into the semis
For the second year in a row and the third time in his career, German Alexander Zverev won his place in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. The American Tommy Paul (11e world) made life difficult for him for three sets, but ended up losing after almost 3 hours 30 minutes of duel: 6-7 (1/7), 6-7 (0/7), 6-2, 1-6. This is the first time that Alexander Zverev, Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021, has defeated the player from New Jersey, after two losses in 2020 and 2022.
“I should have been down two sets to zero, I wasn’t playing very well and he was. I don’t really know how, but I won the first set, the second… and the fourth set was the best I ever played [ce mardi] »said the German. Still in search of his first Grand Slam title at the age of 27 after two lost finals (US Open 2020, Roland-Garros 2024), he will face in the semi-final the winner of the duel between Carlos Alcaraz (3e) et Novak Djokovic (7e).
