Brilliant Badosa blows away Sabalenka

No.7 seed Paula Badosa’s dominate performance in Guadalajara on Thursday night proved anyone can win the 2021 WTA Finals.

Badosa won 10 consecutive games to defeat top seed and World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-0, joining Maria Sakkari atop the Chichén Itzá group after Day 2 of the event.

Badosa fell 2-4 down in the opening set before mounting her comeback, winning the next four games straight.

Her sheer physical presence on court had Sabalenka on the back foot, and despite her efforts, Badosa hung in, saved three game points and drove back to set up an unlikely win.

Sabalenka’s frustration grew in the second set and a flurry of unforced errors saw the Spaniard take control with some superb baseline shots.

“After I lost the serve, I was really disappointed in myself and emotionally I was, like, really crazy,” Sabalenka said after the match.

“I couldn’t just stop myself and kind of put myself back in the match.”

Peter Rowe

Recent Posts

Draper devours semi-final bagel to finally school Alcaraz

Jack Draper will crack the ATP top 10 for the first time after the Brit defeated two-time…

4 hours ago

Swiatek breaks the speed limit in rapid-fire win

Iga Swiatek switched to warp speed after rain delayed her fourth-round match by an hour,…

4 days ago

Alcaraz hits 14 in a row at Indian Wells

Two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz ran his hot streak at the Indian Wells Masters to 14…

5 days ago

Sabalenka steamrolls modest Italian opposition

Aryna Sabalenka spent just an hour and a quarter in dispatching Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-1,…

5 days ago

Gauff scrapes through despite double-fault disaster

Coco Gauff wasted five match points while double-faulting four times in the final game but managed…

5 days ago

Draper increasing confidence with IW win

Jack Draper used the confidence earned just weeks ago in Australia to power past Jensen Brooksby…

5 days ago