Four days after making a strange decision, to dispense with his coach, Javier Martí, with whom I had been working quite successfully for the last 11 months, Paula Badosa met again with the victory in the WTA 1,000 in Cincinnati and she did it in a spectacular way, with a comeback against Petra Martic that culminated after lifting five match points in the third set. The 23-year-old and 31st-year-old Catalan in the world beat the 30- and 34th-year-old Croat 4-6, 6-4 and 7-6 (6) in two hours and 34 minutes of real game time, because the duel lasted a long time. more in time for the rain. He was able to close out the win before the agonizing tiebreaker, but Martic also saved two match balls in the twelfth game and another two in the last. In that tie-break, Badosa knew how to suffer to recover from a dangerous 4-2 and later from a 6-5 and a 9-8 against that already seemed too much.
The Spanish, who came from losing badly in the second round in Montreal against Canadian Rebeca Marino, She will face on Wednesday in the same phase, but of the Western & Southern Open, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, third favorite.
Badosa’s victory against an opponent with a very good hand had merit, especially for the cut backhand and the left, who knew how to keep her behind the baseline for a long time to overcome him with those resources and defended with success and intention from the furious attacks of a tennis player with enormous offensive potential, who attacked without rest and in the end found reward with a little deserved luck. This is how she came out alive from 15-40 at 5-5 in the third sleeve and after the aforementioned disadvantages in the final tiebreaker, after two stops due to the rain, in the second set and in that ‘sudden death’ with heating included when the scoreboard showed an uncertain 6-6.
The Czechs advance
Among the favorites, two Czech Grand Slams winners did not fail, Petra Kvitova, who won 7-5 and 6-4 against Madison Keys, and Barbora Krejcikova, who could with Daria Kasatkina (6-3 and 6-2). The Latvian Jelena Ostapenko beat the Slovak Tamara Zidansek (7-5 and 6-1).
The American also advanced to the next round. Jennifer brady (6-3 and 7-6 (3) against Ekaterina Alexandrova), the German Angelique kerber, which surprised the Greek Maria Sakkari by a double 6-2 and the Belgian Elise mertens, who beat Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska 6-3, 6-4.
Results, table and schedules.