Paula Badosa stayed on Tuesday at the gates of being the fifth Spanish to qualify for the semifinals of Roland Garros after Lili Álvarez, Arantxa Snchez Vicario, Conchita Martnez and Garbie Muguruza.
Badosa, with the poster and the pressure of being the favorite, gave up in the quarterfinal match against Tamara Zidansek 7-5, 4-6 and 8-6, in two hours and 26 minutes.
Javier Mart’s pupil, who had chosen 13 of the last 14 matches played in the clay tour in her favor, could not face an opponent who did not give anything away and who played with the ease that she lacked.
It was Paula’s first time in the majestic Philippe Chatrier and it seemed that she had played there all her life, overwhelming in the first three games. Zidansek, a low-profile tennis player, lost at 85th in the rankings, didn’t seem to have enough weaponry to cope. Then I did teach it.
However, three consecutive games of the Slovenian completely changed the scenery. Badosa wore a kinesiotape bandage on the back of her left leg.
The game had become a carousel of service breaks. Normal in the case of Zidansek because his second serves traveled at 115 kilometers per hour and they were an invitation to a winning return.
Tamara took the lead for the first time at 5-4. Badosa suffers to lift the low balls and end up giving up the initial set with a left that will die at the net.
In the continuation, the Slovenian went 3-1 and 4-2 and serve to shoot her way to victory. Paula grabbed the last train and while that was happening she received a ‘warning’ from the chair umpire Carlos Ramos who turned her on: “But what do you say? If I’m not looking at you, I’m looking at him. I have not done anything, what do you invent“.
With the elements against it, the best version of Badosa was seen again. I signed the tables on the scoreboard with four games in a row. And he extended that positive sequence until 2-0 in the tiebreaker.
Zidansek returned to the scene out of nowhere aided by unforced errors that came from the other side of the net. He led the result by 3-2. Everything that happened on the sand was proposed by the Spanish woman, who hit her head with her hand as a reprimand. Whenever I hit him standing, the point was hers.
Three missed opportunities
The tension was chewing in the environment. It was time for definition. Badosa served to stay alive, with 5-4 and then with 6-5. The turning point was in the thirteenth game. He will have three break balls and his rival was saving them one by one with winning strokes (two forehand and one backhand). There I know he missed the last train. Tamara, a player who had not made it past the second round in her eight previous Grand Slam appearances, puts Slovenia on the tennis map. Now the Russian Anastasia Pavlychenkova awaits him, who beat Elena Rybakina by 6-7 (2), 6-2 and 9-7. Paula is already thinking green. On the horizon, Wimbledon.
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