Paula Badosa stalks the top-10 in the middle of the fight for the Masters

The triumph at Indian Wells places Paula Badosa in the top-20 for the first time in her career … and very close to the world top-10. The Spanish, who has 1,000 points as champion, is 13th, just 78 behind the tenth, the Japanese Naomi Osaka, who probably will not play, as she warned after the US Open, for the remainder of the season. In addition, he is fully involved in the fight for the WTA Finals (Guadalajara, Mexico, from November 10 to 17). She is provisionally ranked eighth in the race, just behind Garbiñe Muguruza and 92 points ahead of the ninth, Ons Jabeur. Only seven tennis players have been better than her so far this year.

The jump in the Badosa ranking in 2021 is extraordinary. He started the year in 70th place, after being 94th in August 2020. Therefore, it is up 83 in 14 months. And your situation can still improve. Next week he will not compete, because although he was Aimed at the WTA 500 in Moscow, she was erased to be able to rest after eight very demanding days in the United States.

If he will be in the Kremlin Cup Jabeur, his main rival for the place in the Masters. So it is very likely that Paula will compete from October 25 to 31 at the Transilvania Open in Cluj (Romania), a 250 for which she is registered and in which she would have a great opportunity to get among the top ten in the classification, a place where only four other Spanish women have been since the rankings exist (1975): Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Garbiñe Muguruza, who were number one in 1995 and 2017, respectively, Conchita Martínez, who reached two in 1995, and Carla Suárez, who was sixth in 2016.

Masters y Billie Jean King Cup

At the same time, Badosa could win a place in the masters tournament as a competitor or as a reserve. It would be the finishing touch to a 2021 in which he has won two titles (Belgrade and Indian Wells), reached another three semifinals (Lyon, Charleston and Madrid) and reached the fourth place in three more events (Roland Garros, JJ OO and Cincinnati) . Previously, it is on the list of the Spanish team for the Finals of the Billie Jean King Cup, the former Federation Cup that takes place in Prague from November 1 to 6. The next campaign will start in Australia, where he will want to forget his disappointment in the first round with a good performance, when after contracting COVID-19 he could not leave his room or train just before the start of the Grand Slam.