Paula Badosa put up some show to win both the semi-final and final at the Serbia Ladies Open on the same day.
Paula Badosa garnered attention when she won the 2015 French Open girls' singles title by defeating Anna Kalinskaya in the title clash. In the pro circuit, Badosa touched her best singles ranking of world No. 34 in May 2021. However, work still needs to be done on her doubles ranking which recorded its best of No. 359 the same month.
The Spaniard registered one of her finest moments in the circuit when she won the Serbia Ladies Open title. On a day when rain had its say in Belgrade, the semi-finals and the final were forced to be scheduled on the same day.
Badosa won the semi-final in the afternoon and then clinched the final in the evening session.
In fact, Badosa dropped just three games in her semi-final against ViktoriyaTomova to make it to the final within 63 minutes of play. It was hard on Tomova as well who was exhausted after playing her pre-quarter-final and quarter-final clash just a day earlier and was able to win just one game in the opening set and two games in the second.
Badosa won the opening set in the summit clash 6-2 as she came up against Konjuh and was leading 2-0 in the second set before Konjuh pulled her hip flexor and had to retire.
“I’m really, really happy I could win my first WTA title. I’ve been chasing this for a long time, so finally, I have it here with me”. Badosa talked about competing despite the tough scheduling demands at the Serbia Ladies Open. One can only imagine what it's like to play back to back knockout games.
“I’m super happy, and I’m super proud of myself. All this week, I think I played at a very good level and I was feeling quite well. Today wasn’t an easy day, not even in the morning. In the afternoon, I think I played an amazing first set, I think I played at a very good level. Ana’s an amazing player, I’m so sorry for her we have to finish like this, but the part that I was playing, I think it was quite good so I’m happy with the level”.
Badosa has entered the top-40 of the WTA ranking after the title win.
