Spain’s Paula Badosa has beaten world No.1 Ash Barty 6-4, 6-3, at the Volvo Car Open in Charleston.
The world No.71 fired 7 aces with 19 winners while the top seed hit 24 unforced errors in a match where she didn’t look like herself. The win is is by far the biggest of Badosa’s career so far and she was ecstatic in her on court interview after the match. Prior to this week she had never defeated a top 20 player on the Tour.
“I can’t believe it, I still can’t believe I just beat number one in the world, I was quite nervous but I think I served very well,” said Badosa. “I think that was the key of the match and it was a tough match but I was there until the last moment and I could win.”
After holding serve in the first game of the match Barty had an early chance to break but the Spaniard would dig in and save both before holding serve. At 2-2 it was the world No.71 with a chance to break and she would earn the first break of the match with a stunning backhand winner.
The world number one had a chance to go back on serve but the Barcelona native hung in and held serve to consolidate the break. The next game the Aussie was struggling on serve and she would double fault to give her Spanish opponent another chance to break.
She would break to take a 5-2 lead but when she was serving for the first set she got tight and the Aussie earned three break points to get one of the breaks back. The world number 71 managed to save all three but the Brisbane native earned a fourth winning a great point with a volley winner and would break to make it 5-3.
At 5-4 the Aussie was pushing hard to go back on serve and once again had three chances to break but the Spaniard saved all three playing some great tennis and would serve out the set with a smash.
Badosa rode the momentum into the second set and earned two breakpoints right away in the first game and broke to take a 1-0 lead. The break wouldn’t last as the world number one would break right back the very next game to level the set at one.
Barty then saved two breakpoints at 2-2 to hold serve and then went on the offensive earning two breakpoints of her very own but the Spaniard saved them both.
At 3-3 the world number would serve a double fault to give her Spanish opponent three chances to break and she would get the break to take a 4-3 lead.
Badosa saved a breakpoint while serving to consolidate the break and would earn two matchpoints on her opponents serve. She won the match after Barty hit an unforced error.
In her post match press conference Badosa spoke about how she was able to overcome all the adversity she faced in the match.
” I’m quite happy because I was quite intense with the returns, I knew I had to be intense because she serves very good, she changes a lot the serve, she mixed a lot so I knew I had to be very focused on my returns and than in my serve I think I served very well which was the key of the match because I had a lot of breakpoints down but then I could do a good serve so I’m quite happy about that and I think I was intense the first balls against her the first two-three balls and I think that was very important.”
She will next face Veronika Kudermetova in the semifinals on Saturday who defeated former US Open champion Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-4.
“It’s going to be a very tough match, a little bit different than today, they (both Kudermetova and Stephens) play more from the baseline. Ash mixes a lot the game so it will be different, very tough and both of them are amazing players”
Barty did take the opportunity after the match to speak to the press. She addressed if she felt fatigue played a factor in the match after a tough three set win against Shelby Rodgers.
“It’s probably been a collective of the last three weeks of playing a lot of matches which is always a good problem to have but without a doubt, I had to adjust with the way I wanted to approach the match and I tried to be super aggressive and all in all it was probably taking a few too many risks but it’s been an exceptional three weeks out of our trip and we can take nothing from the positives from it,” she said.
In other matches at the tournament, 12th seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia beat Coco Gauff in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, and Danka Kovinic continued her amazing run by beating the number 11 seed Yulia Putintseva 6-7, 7-5, 6-1.
