Fantastic. There is no word that better defines Paula Badosa and her week at Indian Wells. He debuted in the main draw of the so-called fifth Grand Slam and on Sunday (22:00, Teledeporte) he will play the final after beating Ons Jabeur out of hunger for glory and courage (double 6-3 in 1h21). He will do it against the two-time tournament champion and former world number one, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, who beat Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in a tough duel (3-6, 6-3 and 7-5 in 2h20).
“I don’t know if I’m dreaming,” said Badosa, who became the first Spanish to reach the semifinals in the California desert on Thursday since Conchita Martínez in 2003. and it also continues until the game for the title to the Aragonese, who played the finals in 1992 and 1996. She lost against two leaders of the ranking, Monica Seles and Steffi Graf. Now Paula will have the opportunity to inaugurate the women’s record of the Navy in a very prestigious event, a WTA 1,000 on hard court.
What he has already achieved is entering the world top-20 for the first time. At the moment she is 17th and if she lifts the trophy in a couple of days she will touch the top-10 as 11th. Thus, in addition, he would get fully into the fight for the Masters that will be played in Guadalajara (Mexico) from November 10 to 17. She is tenth in the race and would be eighth ahead, precisely, of Jabeur, the Tunisian who At the age of 27, she is going through the best moment of her career, which has taken her to eighth place in the rankings, the highest reached by an Arab tennis player, male or female, in all of history.
Effort and reward
“I have an incredible feeling, last year it was the 90th in the world and now I’m here. I think it is because I have worked a lot and I have overcome anxiety and depression when I was a teenager ”, explained Badosa, who had a nice touch with the Spanish fans: “I want to thank the people of Spain who got up super early to watch the game. I love you very much and I feel very close to you ”. The tennis player born in New York 23 years ago he knew how to handle his nerves, which were many, after starting the game like a whirlwind (2-0 three points to 3-0), see how Jabeur ate ground based on dropouts and take out the breed to avoid the comeback of an uncomfortable rival, in the style of Ashleigh Barty, and with a fighting spirit and improvement difficult to face.
Before the sympathetic gaze of the South African actress Charlize Theron, who had a pipe in the stands, Paula gradually imposed the aggressive and powerful style of play that has catapulted her to the top in a few months and, without practicing her best tennis (although she gave a superb counterfeit), She managed to despair her good friend Ons until she won a victory that puts her squarely among the best on the circuit.
Results, table and calendar.