French Open: Aryna Sabalenka smashes her way past Paula Badosa 7-5 6-1 to make fourth round at Roland-Garros
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Updated 01/06/2024 at 14:56 GMT
Aryna Sabalenka completed a straight-sets victory over her good friend Paula Badosa in the third round of the French Open, coming through 7-5 6-1 in just over an hour. Badosa hasn’t managed to beat Sabalenka now since 2021 and didn’t look like doing so in Paris, with the No. 2 seed far too powerful as she won an entertaining, high-quality encounter at Roland-Garros.
French Open highlights - Sabalenka storms past Badosa to reach fourth round
Aryna Sabalenka powered her way into the fourth round of the French Open on another chilly day in Paris, the No. 2 seed beating Paula Badosa 7-5 6-1 under the roof on Court Philippe-Chatrier. It was the seventh meeting between the two friends, but the first at a Grand Slam.
Sabalenka wasn’t at her best in the second round, with plenty of unforced errors briefly looking likely to derail her progress. Those errors did return early on in the opening set against Badosa too, thanks to the pressure exerted by the Spaniard who was playing some of the best tennis she’s managed since a back injury derailed her career and dropped her from a ranking high of No. 2 in the world to outside the top-100.
Badosa was the first to break in the opening set with some beautiful, clean hitting, but Sabalenka struck back immediately, showing finesse with a drop-shot winner before some huge groundstrokes proved too much for Badosa’s defence.
A third break of serve immediately followed though, with Badosa reading Sabalenka’s game superbly and hitting one huge return winner that had left her opponent completely flat-footed. “High-octane tennis” was how the commentators described it, and it was hard to disagree.
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Spain's Paula Badosa reacts as she plays against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka during their women's singles match on Court Philippe-Chatrier on day seven of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros
Image credit: Getty Images
Badosa served for the set at 5-3, only to find herself 0-40 down thanks to Sabalenka’s whipped Nadal-esque lasso-forehand winner that definitely wasn’t coming back. The break inevitably followed, Badosa unable to live with some of Sabalenka’s mighty groundstrokes.
At 5-5, the first chinks on Badosa’s armour finally started to appear, the Spaniard netting an easy forehand volley before Sabalenka’s huge hitting finally had the desired effect and got her ahead for the first time.
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'It's tough to play your best friend' - Sabalenka on beating Badosa
Sabalenka served it out to love to take a high-quality opening set 7-5 – with very little to choose between the two, bar the ability of the number two seed to play those few pressure points slightly better than her opponent.
The second set started with the duo going toe to toe yet again, exchanging huge groundstrokes and even bigger grunts. Despite being close friends off the court, there was no let up or easy points on offer from either player, but it was Sabalenka who stunned her opponent into silence with an immediate break at the start of the set.
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Aryna Sabalenka (R) embraces Paula Badosa of Spain at the net after her victory in the Women's Singles third round match during Day Seven of the 2024 French Open at Roland Garros
Image credit: Getty Images
Badosa’s first serve suddenly went missing – and Sabalenka needed no invitation to step inside the court on the return and hit even bigger. The pressure began to tell, with unforced errors creeping in on Badosa’s side of the court with understandable regularity.
“She’s knocking the stuffing out of the Spaniard,” noted the commentary team, with a sense of resignation.
At 7-5 4-0 it certainly looked like one-way traffic, although Badosa did at least get a game on the board to prevent the bagel. But serving at 1-5 down, she once again found herself under pressure as Sabalenka’s returns kept hitting their mark.
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'She really let the tiger out' - Experts discuss Sabalenka's win over Badosa
Badosa couldn’t hold serve again, as Sabalenka came through a 7-5 6-1 winner, the scoreline not flattering to the Spaniard who played some brilliant tennis, especially in the first set.
“It’s hard to play your best friend, it’s very tough but we are good at separating things on court. But it is always a tough match against her,” Sabalenka said afterwards. “I was just trying to fight for every point. It gets more complicated to play as you have so many options, but I wasn’t thinking too much, I just trusted myself and went for all the shots.”
But Sabalenka very much played the best she has in the tournament so far, which is a big warning shot to the rest of the field. She will play an American in the round of 16, as she awaits the winner of Madison Keys and Emma Navarro.
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