Melbourne (AFP) – Coco Gauff said she was “disappointed but not completely crushed” after her scintillating start to the year came to an abrupt halt in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Tuesday. The world number three had her dreams of a maiden Melbourne Park crown dashed in a 7-5, 6-4 defeat to Spain’s 11th seed Paula Badosa on Rod Laver Arena. Gauff’s nine-match winning streak to start 2025 was ended in style by Badosa, who dominated after taking a tight first set.
The 20-year-old American said she was more mature now after playing in her ninth Grand Slam quarter-final and would not be beating herself up about the loss like she might have done earlier in her career. “The way I played, even though it wasn’t my best, I gave it my all on the court, so that’s something to be proud of,” said Gauff, the 2023 US Open champion. “Some matches are going to go my way, some are not. Maybe a couple of years ago I would feel a lot more crushed and feel like the world is ending type sadness. But now I think it’s just disappointment that I could have done a little bit better in some areas.”
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Gauff said it was a very different feeling to her last Slam defeat, a fourth-round three-setter to Emma Navarro in New York last year. “I feel like at the US Open I was playing with no solution, so I think that was more the frustrating part,” said Gauff, who coughed up six double-faults and 41 unforced errors on Tuesday. “Today I feel like I’m playing with solutions. I know what I need to work on. Even though I lost today, I feel like I’m in an upward trajectory. Obviously it does feel bad when you feel like you’re playing great tennis for the better part of this year to lose, but it is what it is. We’ll get back to work.”
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