MADRID, 28 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa debuted this Thursday with a smile her status as the new number two in the WTA ranking as she got ahead with fewer problems than expected and than initially suspected in her debut at the Mutua Madrid Open against the Russian Veronika Kudermetova, whom she beat 6-3, 6-0, while Nuria Parrizas also advanced by beating Romanian Sorana Cirstea (6-4, 6-2).
The Catalan returned to the Caja Mágica a year after having been one of the protagonists of this WTA 1000, to which she attended then invited by the organization and as number 62 in the world. She reached the semifinals, the best performance by a Spanish woman in all the editions of the event, and now she stands as one of the contenders to end the ‘curse’ that no national player has even played a final.
With that extra pressure of playing at home, his new position in the standings and what he did last year, Manolo Santana jumped onto a covered court due to the weather, and the consequent change in conditions, to face off with a Kudermetova against which had a losing record of 3-1, although the only victory had been a month ago in Indian Wells.
Badosa had warned of how complicated the debut was and the beginning of the game seemed to confirm this, although it was a mirage because the Russian player could not ratify her options and once she was down on the scoreboard, she hardly put up any resistance.
Thus, Kudermetova took advantage of the irregularity of the Spanish in her tennis and put her in continuous problems to the rest. However, she was not able to take advantage of any of her three break balls and she ended up paying too dearly for it.
The Russian had not suffered excessively with her service, but after the break at 4-3 everything changed. Badosa found himself at 15-40 that he did not let go, broke and, without knowing it, won the match because his rival, despite having another break ball to avoid the first set, did not win any games again.
The world number two settled down as Kudermetova hit error after error in conceding a total of nine games in a row. The one from Kazan only won six points, none to the rest, and left the Spaniard free for a second round where many more problems surely await her since she will have to face former world number one Simona Halep, double champion in Madrid and two others times runner-up
PARRIZAS EXCEEDS CIRSTEA
Along with Badosa, the Granada-born player Nuria Parrizas also made it through the first round, who signed a solid victory against the Romanian Soriana Cirstea in two sets by 6-4, 6-2, in what was her first time in this WTA 1000.
The Andalusian was successful in a first set that was “crazy” since seven breaks were recorded. The Spanish broke the first three serves of her rival and went on to get 4-1 and serve, but did not close the partial and the 27th in the world matched it. Parrizas broke again and this time he didn’t let it go, although he had to save two break balls.
In the second set, the Granada-born woman was more solid with her serve and did not have as many troubles, certifying with two breaks her pass to a second round in the Caja Mágica where she will face the winner of the duel between the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova and the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.