Australian Open 2025: Coco Gauff says she has a lot more work to do after loss to Paula Badosa

Australian Open 2025: Coco Gauff says she has a lot more work to do after loss to Paula Badosa

Coco Gauff’s retooled forehand and serve abandoned her in the worst way and at the worst time at Australian Open 2025. The unforced errors just kept accumulating, and so did the double faults and break points, often followed by a palm placed over her eyes or a slap to the thigh.

Add it all up, and Gauff’s trip to Melbourne Park — and her 13-match winning streak that dated to late last season — ended in the quarterfinals. Never able to take control on a hot afternoon in Rod Laver Arena, the 2023 U.S. Open champion was eliminated by No. 11 Paula Badosa of Spain 7-5, 6-4.

Using tweaks to some keystrokes, and a change to her coaching team after a disappointing end to her title defence in New York in September, the 20-year-old Gauff arrived in Australia with hopes of earning a second Grand Slam title.

“I feel like (at the) U.S. Open, I was playing with no solution, so that was more the frustrating part. Today, I feel like I’m playing with solutions; I know what I need to work on. U.S. Open, I needed to work on my serve. Not saying that my serve is where I want it to be, but I worked on it; obviously a big improvement. So I want to continue working on that, continue working on playing aggressive,” Gauff said.

“So I feel like I’m on the road to the right way, the right path. Even though I lost today, I feel like I’m in an upward trajectory,” Gauff said.

The American entered Tuesday with a 9-0 record in 2025; she also won her last four matches of last season to collect the trophy at the WTA Finals in November.

“Just a lot more work to do. I’m obviously disappointed, but I’m not completely crushed,” Gauff said after the 1-hour, 43-minute loss to Badosa, who had been 0-2 in Grand Slam quarterfinals.

Badosa now heads to her first Grand Slam semifinal at age 27. She kept the pressure on Gauff, who only briefly managed to showcase her skills. Gauff finished with 41 unforced errors, a total that included six double-faults — including on the last point of the game that put Badosa ahead 5-2 in the second set — and 28 missed forehands.

Gauff had to contend with 10 break points and lost four of her 11 service games. She never earned so much as a single break point while returning until after she already trailed by a set and a break.

One key game — and one that illustrated Gauff’s problems this afternoon — started the second set. It lasted 22 points spread over more than a dozen minutes, and Badosa converted her fifth break chance after Gauff missed two forehands in a row.

Of Badosa’s 12 points in that game, 11 came via mistakes by Gauff, including seven errant forehands.

“Today, she did better in those key moments,” Gauff concluded.