World number one Ashley Barty crashed out of the quarterfinals of the Charleston WTA on Friday, beating 71st-ranked Spanard Paula Badosa in straight sets. Badosa hit seven ace – three more than Barty – and saved 14 of 12 break points, which he faced with a 6-4, 6-3 victory. This is the biggest win of Badosa’s career, with the Spaniard registering his first top-20 win when he defeated fifth-seed Belinda Bencic in the fifth round. “I’m still a little surprised,” Badosa admitted, when Barty’s final forehand exited the court, “I, like, ‘What just happened?”
“But I am quite happy with my match, the way I have handled my nerves. It was quite important because sometimes it is difficult to close these matches.”
For the opening set, Badosa were down 0-40, but won five straight points en route to sealing it with the overhead winner.
He traded a break in the first two games of the second set, with Bodo gaining the advantage again with a break for 4-3 as he won the final four games of the match.
In the semi-finals, Badossa will face Russian Veronika Kudermatova, who defeated American Sloan Stephens 6-3, 6-4 in straight sets.
A former French Open junior champion, Badosa is the lowest ranked player to defeat Barty since September 2019.
Barty made her first overseas appearance since the WTA pandemic closed last year with a run to the title in Miami last week – where she was the defending champion for a 2019 victory after the tournament was canceled in 2020.
World No-8 Kudermetova has not dropped a set in four matches this week, and Stephens is the winner more than three times in an hour and 33-minute match.
“I really like playing on clay because I feel like I have a lot of time to do what I want.”
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“This is the first time I’ve beaten a player who won a Grand Slam and I think it’s really important to me. I tried to play aggressive and didn’t give my time and I think that was the key to this match. “
In other matches, Ones Jabor of Tunisia beat American Coco Gough 6–2, 7–6 (7/2), with Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic 6-7 (2/7), 7–5, 7–5. Booked semi-final meeting. Kazakhstan’s 6–1 win over Yuliya Putintseva.
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