IT IS the dawn of a new era for Paula Badosa, with the Spaniard finally winning through to her first ever Grand Slam semi-final after beating Coco Gauff at the Australian Open yesterday.

It certainly was not an easy match with Gauff giving her all, but in almost an hour and 45 minutes Badosa ultimately prevailed 7-5, 6-4.

“It was my third quarter-finals, and I don’t know. The last two were, like, I didn’t leave with a good feeling, so today I didn’t want to do that,” Badosa said. 

“Even though win or lose, I wanted to go for it and be aggressive and play my game and don’t have regrets. That was my plan since the first minute I stepped on the court.”

With a chronic back issue seeing her drop to 140th in the world less than a year ago, it has been a steady climb back up for Badosa. She had also lost after being a set up both times she played Gauff last year.

In yesterday’s clash, though, she held her nerve and only served two double faults compared to Gauff’s six. She also had 18 less unforced errors than the American, and three less return unforced errors.

It does not get much tougher in world tennis than Badosa’s next match though, with her next opponent being none other than two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka after she beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the other quarter-final yesterday.

Sabalenka was made to work for her win though, winning 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in a match which lasted just under two hours.

“Sometimes it’s maybe good to have these tough battles, to go through it, to be tougher for the last stages of the tournament,” Sabalenka said.

“I wish I could win this match in straight sets, but I’m happy to be through.”

Sabalenka served two less double faults than Pavlyuchenkova did, which corresponded to her having seven per cent more of her first serves land, and two per cent more wins off her first serve.