Paula Badosa celebrates her victory against Petra Kvitova. /
third round
The Spanish wins her first match at the Wimbledon center against a double champion like Kvitova
The first time that Paula Badosa visited Wimbledon was in 2014, to play the junior tournament. That year, she was able to see a game on center court; the final. A 16-year-old Badosa witnessed on one of the most impressive courts in the world and the cradle of world tennis how Petra Kvitova won her second Wimbledon. Eight years after that triumph of the Czech, the Spanish tennis player defeated her, in her best victory at the All England Club (7-5 and 7-6 (4)).
Badosa, who had never played in the center until this Saturday, uncovered her best tennis against one of the most aggressive tennis players on the circuit, and who she knew how to block until she made more than thirty unforced errors.
The Czech, with the tactic of pulling and pulling, started in an intimidating way, on a track that she knows perfectly and where she knew that, with experience, she could beat Badosa on the fast track. She won seven of the first eight points, went ahead 3-1, later 5-3 and gave the impression that it would be an afternoon to rejuvenate her tennis, which at 32 is far from her glory days. .
But on the verge of losing the first set, Badosa resurfaced, took four games in a row from the sleeve and began an ascent in which her serve, especially the second, was key to closing the gaps that the Czech was looking for. Kvitova had nine break chances in the second set and all of them were solved by Badosa, who played his best points in moments under pressure. “Never give up, that’s my key,” he said after the match.
Impeccable
Despite the fact that she came close to victory and was two points behind him, with 5-4 and 15-30 on Kvitova’s serve, after winning the best point of the match, the Czech let out a cry of rage as she deactivated the Spanish’s opportunities and force the second set to be decided in the ‘tie break’; an oasis for a server like her. But Kvitova was horrible in the tiebreaker. He made four unforced errors that practically cost him the match, while Badosa, with his no-miss tactic, was relentless. At no time did he hesitate, neither when it went from 4-1 to 4-3, nor when he lost the first match point.
An ugly forehand from the Czech certified what is the best victory of her career in this tournament and the one that allows her to step on the second week of Wimbledon for the second consecutive year. Badosa will now have the opportunity to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the second time in her life, after achieving it at Roland Garros 2021.
The rival, yes, will be of substance, a Simona Halep who has recovered her tennis, who beat Magdalena Frech 6-4 and 6-1 and who already knows what it is to apply a good corrective to the Spanish less than three years ago months. It was in Madrid when the Romanian swept Badosa leaving only four games. Halep, champion here in 2019, is one of the most dangerous tennis players left in the draw after Iga Swiatek lost her streak of 37 consecutive wins, the longest in the 21st century, when she fell to the French Alizé Cornet.
