This has been a week to remember so far for Australian Olivia Gadecki of Gold Coast, Australia. Despite only having one career grand slam win, the 152nd ranked player in the world, has been playing great tennis this week at the 2024 Guadalajara Open in Mexico.
Gadecki is in the semifinals where she will face Camila Osorio of Colombia. It is not so much that Gadecki, a qualifier, is in the semifinals. It is who she has beaten that is noteworthy. Gadecki beat American Sloane Stephens of Plantation, Florida, the 2017 United States Open champion, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round, Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, Florida, the 2022 Australian Open finalist, 6-3, 6-3 in the second round, and Martina Trevisan of Italy, the 2022 French Open semifinalist, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
Gadecki’s serve was the reason why she had initial success in Mexico. In the first round, she had six aces compared to zero for Stephens. In the second round, the issue for Collins was double faults, as she had eight compared to four for Gadecki. Then in the quarterfinals, Gadecki broke Trevisan eight times in 10 opportunities, and completely dominated the third and deciding set.
One major story for Gadecki this year has been her progress. At the Australian Open in January, she got clobbered by Stephens, 6-3, 6-1 in the first round. Then Gadecki beat the same opponent in Mexico this week. Gadecki’s other wins in 2024 came in the first round of Brisbane where she beat fellow Australian Kim Birrell of Gold Coast, 4-6, 6-0, 6-4, Stephens at the Trophee Clarins in Paris leading up to the French Open, 6-1, 3-2, Julia Riera of Argentina in the first round of a 125 event in Guadalajara last week, 6-4, 6-2, and then Lucrezia Stefanini of Italy 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the second round of Guadalajara last week.
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