MADRID, 21 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish tennis players Paula Badosa and Sara Sorribes qualified this Thursday for the quarterfinals of their respective clay court tournaments in Stuttgart (Germany) and Istanbul, with much more work for the Catalan.
This, second seeded in the indoor red clay event, suffered a lot in her complicated debut against Kazakh Elena Rybakina, nineteenth in the world and who forced her to play a ‘sudden death’ in a third and final set to seal her victory. pass among the top eight.
Badosa had to battle for two and a half hours to get rid of his rival 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(4) after a hard-fought match in which he could only dominate in the first set that he got back on track very quickly thanks to two ‘breaks’ and his firmness with the serve.
But Rybakina, fourth last summer in Tokyo, reacted forcefully, breaking Badosa’s first two serves in the second set for a 4-0 lead. The number three in the world recovered and returned the breaks, but gave up her serve again when she was looking for 5-4 and the Kazakh, after saving a ‘break’ ball, did not forgive to take the clash to a third and final set where Badosa had to finish his pass in the ‘tie-break’ after wasting a 4-1 lead.
For her part, in Istanbul, Sara Sorribes from Castellón, seeded seventh, was also among the top eight in the tournament, although in her case she did so with considerable authority after defeating Russian Varvara Gracheva in two sets 6-2. , 6-1.