There is light at the end of the tunnel into which Paula Badosa entered, precisely a year ago, precisely in Rome, with those back problems that would later force her to withdraw from Wimbledon, plunging the Spaniard into a negative spiral whose end may be, Time will tell, in the capital of Italy. If in the first round, against the Russian Andreeva, she left signs of resurrection, this Thursday, in her duel against Emma Navarro, she offered new positive clues on the way to a third round whose ticket she sealed with a 1-6, 6-4 and 6-2 in two hours.
It was not the ideal start that she signed against the thriving American, already 22nd in the ranking in a year in which she has been a quarterfinalist in Indian Wells, WTA 1,000, and a semifinalist in San Diego, a 500, and in the 250 in Auckland, as well as champion in Hobart. The 6-1 that she endorsed at the start against an unbalanced Badosa was a declaration of intentions that she, however, did not know how to sustain when the Catalan began to play with her heart in the second set, after leading an alarming 2-0 against .
From then on Paula was another. She was aggressive, accurate, bossy with a backhand that flew over the brick dust of the Foro Italico. And in the face of that hostile OPA Navarro, whose ball runs a lot without apparent effort, fell apart like a sugar cube: from 2-0 to 2-4 and from there to a suffering 4-6 after saving two breaking points in the eighth game. The change in dynamics took its toll on the American, unable to adapt and Badosa, very confident with the serve, took her off the court in a dominant outcome, which invites her to think big ahead of her third round match against Diana Shnaider, 62nd of the WTA. Furthermore, the precedents against the Russian are encouraging, since at her expense she reached the second round in Stuttgart last month, along with Miami, the only one she has entered since February. This third in Rome was an unprecedented level for her since the Australian Open. But this Badosa is different.
Sorribes and Masarova, heads and tails
Before that night session in which Badosa had to perform, the resumption of the day on Wednesday, postponed in Rome due to the rain that usually disrupts plans in this Masters and WTA 1,000, left a head and a tail in the key of Spanish women’s tennis. The first was Sara Sorribes, who beat Nadia Podoroska 6-4 and 6-3 in 2h03, and the second was Rebeka Masarova who certified what a day before pointed to defeat against Irina Begu by 5-7, 6- 3 and 6-4 in 2h48.
The curious thing is that the one who had it the worst was the 27-year-old from Castellón, who had started down a break against her Argentine contemporary, 61st in the ranking. But the 3-1 against became 6-4 in favor in a first set that she resumed with authority, signing two breaks and winning five of the next six games. In the second, both exchanged four consecutive breaks, two apiece, until Sara stood out to complete her second victory in the main draw of the tournament, after the one she achieved against the local Camila Giorgi in 2021. Her next rival will be the Russian Pavlyuchenkova, 20th favorite of the painting.
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On the other hand, Masarova, stopped when she had won the first set against the 33-year-old Romanian and number 161 on the world list Irina-Camelia Begu, who later won the second, came to have a juicy 3-1 in the final. that he failed to maintain. She would end up conceding two breaks and losing the match, so she remains unprecedented in the event except for her victory in the first round of qualifying in 2023. This is the third tournament that she has abandoned at the first opportunity, a bad streak after being a quarterfinalist in Charleston and finalist in the 125 in Girona.
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2024-05-09 18:59:33
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