Badosa gives in to his black beast in New York

Paula Badosa already has her own particular black beast. The Russian Varvara Gracheva brought him down for the second consecutive year from the United States Open (6-4 and 6-4) with a loss that ends with Badosa’s participation in the Grand Slams this year. The Spanish player, who had never won a match in New York before this edition, suffered from the load of matches of the season (48 matches played) and could not beat the Russian, who needed two breaks in the decisive moments to win the cat to the water.

Badosa had problems especially on service and could not show the pace that has led him to have the best season of his career. He gave up the service in the tenth game of the first and second sets and said goodbye to a US Open against the same rival as the previous year, although that time it was in the first round. Despite recovering a 4-1 against in the second set, Badosa succumbed when he was on the edge of the cliff and will not be able to continue astonishing at the US Open.

Thus closes a year in the Grand Slams in which Badosa lost in the first round in Australia, made the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, third round at Wimbledon and second here in New York. Along with the Belgrade title, the Spaniard has climbed to 26th place in the rankings and will try to keep improving in the final stretch of the season. This defeat, yes, damages his chances of qualifying for the WTA Finals (whose dispute is still in doubt), since he is just over 500 points from the eighth position of the Shenzhen race.

Sara Sorribes did break her ceiling in this Grand Slam and it is that for the first time in her career she will step on the third round in a ‘major’. The world number 41 is still sweet in this season finale and defeated Su-Wei Hsieh 6-1, 6-3 in just one hour and 20 minutes. The Spanish has not yet yielded a single set and thus confirms her great form, after the semifinals in Cleveland, the quarterfinals in Montreal and after beating Ashleigh Barty, world number one, at the Tokyo Olympics. .

Sorribes, who was great for the rest generating 15 break balls against Hsieh, will face 2021 British sensation Emma Raducanu in the third round. From the previous one, the 18-year-old player ranked 150th has not yet given up a set in this tournament and beat China’s Shuai Zhang 6-2, 6-4. The British jumped to the fore at last Wimbledon, where she climbed to the round of 16 before retiring with a respiratory problem. The third round match will be Sorribes and Raducanu’s first clash in their career.