Badosa scalps world No. 1 Barty for biggest victory of career

MIAMI • In late January, Paula Badosa said she was mentally drained after becoming the first player to test positive for Covid-19 during the two-week quarantine before the Australian Open.

But on Friday, the Spaniard was far more upbeat after claiming the biggest win of her career, beating world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in the WTA Charleston quarter-finals.

The world No. 71 fired seven aces - three more than the Australian - and saved 12 of 14 break points on the way to a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Having notched her first top-20 victory when she beat fifth-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the second round, Badosa is on a roll, putting her within sight of a maiden WTA singles title.

"I'm still a little bit shocked," she said. "I was, like, 'What just happened?' But I'm quite happy with my match, the way that I managed my nerves. It was quite important because sometimes these matches are tough to close."

Serving for the opening set, Badosa was down 0-40 but won five straight points on the way to sealing it with an overhead winner.

They traded breaks in the first two games of the second set, with Badosa gaining the advantage again with a break for 4-3 as she won the final four games of the match, held on green clay in South Carolina.

In the semi-finals, she will face Russian Veronika Kudermetova, who defeated American Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-4.

Badosa, a former French Open junior champion, is the lowest-ranked player to beat Barty since September 2019. Barty, the 2019 French Open champion, had made her first overseas appearance since the WTA's pandemic shutdown last March with a run to the title in Miami last week.

In the other quarter-finals, Tunisia's Ons Jabeur beat American Coco Gauff 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) to book a date with Danka Kovinic of Montenegro, a 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 6-1 winner over Kazakh Yulia Putintseva. All semi-finalists have yet to win a WTA singles title.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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WTA CHARLESTON OPEN

Final: StarHub Ch201, tomorrow, 1am