[Sport] Badosa beats Barty in Charleston and will play the semifinal against Russia's Kudermetova

[UltimaTexCS]

The Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa starred in the big surprise on Friday in the quarterfinals of the WTA tournament in Charleston (United States) by defeating the number one seed, Australian Ashleigh Barty, 6-4, 6-3.

Her rival in the semifinals will be the 23-year-old Russian Veronika Kudermetova, world number 38, who beat the American Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-4, 57 in the WTA classification.

Badosa, with aggressive tennis from the back of the court and a good serve, did not let the world number one react at any time and achieved the most important victory of her career.

Before the start of the tournament, the Spanish tennis player had never beaten a player ranked among the Top 20, but she was always superior to Barty.

Badosa, 23, on the green clay of Charleston gave a whole recital of good selection in her blows, well placed and that allowed her to be in control of the rhythm of the game and the match.

The victory is Badosa's second over a seeded player this week, after she defeated fifth seed and twelfth in the world, Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, in the second round.

"I was quite nervous today, but I think I served very well and I think that was the key to the game," Badosa said on the court after the game. "It was tough but I was there until the last moment and I managed to win."

The former junior Roland Garros champion served seven aces and broke Barty's serve another five, beating the current WTA leader in the match.

The world number 71 is the lowest ranked player to beat Barty since September 2019.

Badosa saved 12 of the 14 break points she faced over the course of 76 minutes of the match and set the tone early on by saving a pair in her first service game.

Barty nearly tied in the first set after falling on a 2-5 hole, twice building a 0-40 lead when Badosa served a one-set lead.

Although she successfully broke serve in the eighth game, she failed to repeat the feat in the tenth, and Badosa finally secured the decisive first set after nearly three-quarters of an hour of action on center court.

The two players traded breaks in the first two games of the second set, and each denied the other two break opportunities in the fifth and sixth games, respectively.

That's when Badosa pulled away from her, taking advantage of the momentum from her 3-3 control to finally win the final four games of the match.

"I am very proud to have been here playing every point no matter what. I was 0-40 at 4-5 in the first set and I came back," added Badosa. "In the second set, she also had break points and I was very calm. I tried to serve very well and it came out perfect."

Although Barty nearly doubled Badosa's total winning shots in the match at 34 to 19, she also committed twice as many unforced errors as the Spanish tennis player, 24 to 12, respectively.

Paula Badosa, who will face the fifteenth-seeded Kudermetova for the third time as a professional, has lost the previous two games against the Russian player

The other semifinal will be played by Tunisian Ons Jabeur, twelfth seeded, against Montenegrin Danka Kovinic, world number 91.

Jabeur defeated the American Cori Gauff, the world number 36, in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-3 in just one hour and 20 minutes of action.

While Kivinic, 26, had to work three sets after losing the first 6-7 (2), 7-5 and 6-1 to Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, eleventh seeded, and number 31 in the world , which finally gave way after playing two hours and 52 minutes.

Both games are scheduled for the day of this Saturday.