On January 21st, Beijing time, the fifth round of the Australian Open women's singles began. Gauff faced Badosa, with one being the No. 3 seed and the other being the No. 11 seed, the difference in strength is not big. The two have met five times before, with Gauff having a slight advantage of 3 wins and 2 losses, but this does not mean that Badosa is incapable of defeating Gaoff.
In the first set, the two played a tough match, with both sides holding serve in the first 10 games, bringing the score to 5-5. In the crucial 11th game, Gauff served and quickly fell behind 0-30. After Badosa made two net returns, Gauff tied it at 30-30. However, Gaoff then made an unforced error, and Badosa broke serve to lead 6-5. In the next game, Badosa held off Gaoff's counterattack and successfully held serve to win the first set 7-5.
In the second set, Gaoff served first, and the two started to tussle again. They tied the score eight times to 40-40. After wasting several chances, Badosa eventually broke serve to lead 1-0. In the next two games, both sides held serve successfully. In the fourth game, Gaoff finally seized the opportunity and broke serve at 40-15 to tie the score at 2-2.
Unexpectedly, in the fifth game, Gaoff served and once led 40-15, seemingly about to hold serve. However, she then made multiple forehand errors, allowing Badosa to score consecutively, and ultimately Gaoff was broken, with Badosa leading 3-2 again. Badosa then held serve, making the score 4-2. In the seventh game, Gaoff made a ridiculous double fault, resulting in another break. After falling behind 2-5, Gaoff was doomed, although she fought back to win two consecutive games later, Badosa still won 6-4, sweeping Gaoff 2-0 and causing a major upset.
According to statistics, Gaoff had more than 40 unforced errors in this game, far more than her opponent. She was swept 0-2, which was absolutely self-inflicted. In contrast, Badosa performed very steadily whether leading or trailing. Especially her offense, which made Gaoff once unable to adapt, and her forehand continued to make mistakes, ultimately leading to her failure to advance.
After this game, Gaoff stopped at the quarterfinals and failed to progress further, while Badosa advanced to the semifinals, which is the first time in her career that she has advanced to the sixth round at the Australian Open. In the top half, Gaoff and Sabalenka were originally the favorites, with a chance to meet in the semifinals. Now that Gaoff is out, she is destined to miss the championship. At the time of this article's deadline, the match between Sabalenka and Pavlyuchenkova had not yet begun, and it is unknown whether Sabalenka can advance smoothly.
As for Badosa, after advancing to the semifinals, she is one step closer to her first Australian Open title. To date, Badosa has never won a Grand Slam title, and now that she has reached the semifinals, she only needs to win two more matches to claim the Australian Open title. With Badosa's current form, she definitely has a chance to compete for the championship!