Badosa knocks down another door

Paula Badosa’s career has been on the rise for some time. Inexorably, the Spanish, settled in the elite, breaks barrierskicks down doors in almost every tournament he plays in. This Sunday she beat Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-2 in 81 minutes and reached the round of 16 of the WTA 1,000 in Miami for the first time in his sixth participation. His best result so far was the third round which he reached in 2015 and this year. In addition, she is virtually number three in the world, the best position of hers. And the good thing is that in the Florida tournament she has not yet reached her highest level, has room for improvement and will probably have to get higher to be able to Monday with Linda Fruhvirtova, the new prodigy of Czech tennis, who at only 16 years old painted the face of former number one Victoria Azarenka, to the point that she left the court without explanation or being attended by the physio when she lost 6-2 and 3-0. “Vika, we have to wait,” the chair umpire told her. Faced with that warning, the Belarusian did not even turn around as she left and did not say goodbye to her rival.

“I’m happy about that (how she hit early), I played with her a few months ago (with win in the 2nd round of Wimbledon 2021) and I knew it would be a very physical and tactical match. I got the direction of his blows right. I had difficult moments at the beginning of the two sets, but I fought and I solved the games because I served well, despite the fact that it was difficult to play with the sun and shade”, analyzed Badosa before thanking the Hispanic public for their presence. “It’s very nice to play here and hear your name all the time.”

The fact is that Paula looks happy, although at certain moments of the games she suffers and even feels like she is on the verge of tears because of her champion’s claw when a shot narrowly escapes her. “I don’t see anything,” he said in the second round, when the sun marked half the track and the shadow the other half vertically, an uncomfortable circumstance that you have to know how to play with. The Spanish adapted better than the 27-year-old Kazakh and 47th in the world, who has not been able to beat a top-10 since he could with Osaka (2nd) at Wimbledon 2019. Since then he is 0-12 against rivals from that part of the classification.

serve and backhand

That bad luck and his bad mood (he threw the racket several times) ruined a more than decent performance, although it is true that Badosa’s serve (94 aces in 2022, the second best, and 100% of points won with first services in the first set) took away opportunities. Also the reverse of the Catalan, which worked with special forcefulness and precision. Positive notes from a neat game that will give him confidence for what awaits him in the second week of competition.

Results of the WTA 1,000 in Miami.