2025 Australian Open - Women’s Singles Day 10 (1)
2025 Australian Open, first Grand Slam tournament of the year, on Hard Outdoor, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 12-26 January 2025.
Defending champion:
Aryna Sabalenka (2) who defeated Zheng Qinwen (12) 6-3 6-2
Quarter final 1:
CoCo Gauff (3) (USA) v Paula Badosa (11) (Spain)
3-3 head to head, but CoCo would be happy to know she had won the past two clashes, both in 2024.
Each was a victory after losing the first set, so CoCo can win from anywhere.
Not as easy in a Grand Slam tournament.
Gauff served first,and held well, one backhand winner missed everything and ball ended flying out of the top of my television.
It barely missed one of my speakers.
Badosa was taking no rubbish from Gauff when she served, but all she received was rubbish, and the love game was a sinch.
Gauff’s second attempt from the line was a painful stretch with bresk points saved thanks to a patch of good serves.
Serve was held eventually, and they both sat down.
Gauff had Badosa at 0-30 in game four but donated three straight forehand errors.
The hard hitting hurt the net and probably the players feelings, but had little effect on the ability to hold serve.
Until Badosa lost patience
Serving at 5-5, Gauff was blasted with a forehand winner from the Badosa racquet.
Then Gauff sent a ball into a different postcode to be behind 0-30.
At 30-30,:Badosa simoly fired in a backhand volley winner and a forehand winner to achieve a service break.
No fuss next game to serve out the set 7-5.
Gauff served first in the second set, and it seemed as long as the women’s marathon.
Four break points were saved - the first with a powerful serve, the second with a forehand winner.
The third disappeared when Badosa hit a forehand somewhere in Australia but not inside a tennis court.
And number four found the bottom of the net where Badosa put it.
However, another uncontrolled forehand from Gauff gifted the break to Badosa who led 1-0.
Neither player filled anyone with confidence the serve could be held, and it was broken in games four, five, seven and eight accordingly.
Badosa served for the match at 5-4, after she failed to serve it out at 5-2.
An ace to start, and a serve forcing error to bring 30-15.
A second ace and two match points.
A forehand winner finished the contest.
Paula Badosa defeated CoCo Gauff 7-5 6-4 and advanced to the 2025 Australian Open semi finals.
No comments:
Post a Comment