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Paula Badosa will be the only Spanish representative in the semifinals of the tournament in Sydney (Australia), scoring for the WTA and played on hard court, after beating the Swiss Belinda Bencic this Thursday by 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 and after the defeat of Garbiñe Muguruza against the Russian Daria Kasatkina by a double 6-4.
The Catalan had to battle for more than two and a half hours against a rival who had more wear and tear since she had had to close her round of 16 duel against the French Oceane Dodin hours before and who conceded her third defeat in as many duels against number eight of the world.
Both began the duel very firmly, but it was Badosa who, after saving the first ‘break’ ball in the first round, broke in the eighth game to get 5-3.
However, the Swiss not only returned the break to avoid losing the set but then saved five set balls with her serve to reach a ‘sudden death’ where she already gave in despite having two serves with 5/4 in her favor.
Anyway, Bencic knew how to rebuild himself to dominate with the second round and force a third and final one where he was able to lift a ‘break’ advantage before, already at the limit of his resistance, giving in to the push of his rival.
Badosa will now face Daria Kasatkina, Garbiñe Muguruza’s executioner. The second seed of the event could not overcome his second game of the year against an uncomfortable opponent, always dangerous and who also came with much more competitive rhythm after being a semifinalist last week in one of the Melbourne tournaments.
The one from Caracas also paid for not being at the service as solid as usual in her, especially with the second serve. However, she was somewhat better in this facet in the first round, but not enough against a rival who did not leave her too many loopholes with hers, without yielding any break balls to the double ‘Grand Slam’ champion. And this allowed him to capitalize on the key break that he achieved in the seventh game to win the first set.
On the other hand, the second was a real ‘roller coaster’ with services and this ended up being paid dearly by Muguruza. The world number three lost her first three and although she balanced the first two, Kasatkina finally managed to take advantage of her advantage and despite wasting a 0-40, she ended up sentencing her victory.
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