Gauff ‘not crushed’ despite shock loss

Coco Gauff. Pic/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 No.3 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.

Also Read: Sabalenka keeps Melbourne hat-trick hopes alive

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.
"The way I played, even though it wasn't my best, I gave it my all on the court," 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," she said.

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. "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."

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever