Paula Badosa arrived in Dubai premiering top-5 in the world, and cWith the very high expectations for the WTA 500 category tournament, in which he started as third seed. However, the Spanish has been eliminated at the first opportunity by the Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse, number 59 in the world, who has prevailed in three sets by 6-3, 5-7 and 6-4.
Badosa, who had not played since January 23, when she was eliminated by Madison Keys in the round of 16 of the Australian Open, returned to the tracks erratically, imprecise with the forehand and making more unforced errors than they should. Despite breaking the Romanian’s first serve, Badosa was not found in this set and she also gave up her first serve. This gave wings to Ruse, who presented many problems to the Spanish tennis player to the rest, which allowed him to win the first set in 44 minutes.
The script in the second set was the same, Badosa could not find break opportunities and ended up giving up a serve that he allowed Ruse to serve to win the match. It was then that Badosa woke up and got the honor of number five in the world. Two consecutive breaks allowed the Spanish to win the second set. And she kept that good moment and good game at the start of the third set. Badosa came to place 4-1 in the final set, with a break up, and little by little I was getting the good feelings.
Badosa, during his match in Dubai.
Robert Prange (Getty Images)
However, Ruse grew and Badosa sank. Several consecutive failures by Paula aroused her nerves, and her rival did not forgive her a second time. The Romanian, who entered the tournament through the qualifier, won five games in a row, including two breaks, and this time he did close the match with his serve, preventing a second reaction from Badosa. Ruse will face her compatriot Simona Halep in the next round.
In this way, Badosa opens the world top-5 with an unexpected stumble in the first roundand leaves Garbiñe Muguruza as the only Spanish representative in Dubai. Garbiñe, who defends the title in this WTA 500, will make her debut in the event today at 4:00 p.m.when she will face the Czech Siniakova.