Badosa after qualifying for the quarter-finals in Melbourne: "Reaching the semi-finals would mean a lot".

Paula Badosa has reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career.

The Spaniard, who will make her return to the top 10 at the end of the tournament, dominated Olga Danilovic (6-1, 7-6) and will face Coco Gauff for a place in the semi-finals.

If Badosa manages to reach the last four, it will be her first Grand Slam semi-final.

To date, the tournament's number 11 seed has played two quarter-finals in this category. These were at Roland Garros in 2021 (against Zidansek) and at the last US Open (against Navarro).

In a press conference after her success, the 27-year-old hopes to break through this glass ceiling, but is well aware of the scale of the task ahead.

"I love Coco, I have a lot of respect for her, she's a great competitor. We've always had close, undecided matches (3-3 in head-to-head meetings).

This is a special match, it's the quarter-finals and it's on center court. I've always enjoyed playing against her. I'm going to get ready for another battle.

Of course, this match is special because I'll be playing against one of the best players in the world. She's playing well, and she hasn't lost a match this year, if I'm not mistaken.

She's full of confidence, but I play well too, so I'm ready to take her on.

Sometimes I take matches as a great opportunity and this is one of them, I'm not going to lie.

Reaching the semi-finals would mean a lot, even if I haven't experienced many quarter-finals in my life. It's one of my main objectives with my team, especially after what happened at the US Open.

We're going to try to get as close as possible. For the moment, I'm happy to have got this far, but I think I need to experience more of these moments to know how to deal with them and face them head-on", assured the former world number 2.