Paula Badosa starts her title defense with revenge

It was only her first match at the 2022 edition of the WTA 1,000 in Indian Wells, but Paula Badosa took the victory against Tereza Martincova as if he had achieved it in the final. Possibly, for two reasons: on the one hand, the pressure of defending the title that he won five months ago is great and, although she wanted to get rid of it with mental tricks, as she explained in her statements, it was there; on the other hand, He had faced the 27-year-old Czech and 47th in the world three times and had lost in all three, the last two years ago in Ostrava. That’s why win it for 6-2 and 7-6 (4) in 95 minutes it was also a double liberation.

Badosa, who did not stop cheering throughout the game and celebrated many points with rage before exploding after the last one, the one that gave him the victory, started like a champion and, on one side of the table in which this Saturday important favorites fell like Sabalenka (2-6, 6-3 and 6-3 against Paoilini), Jabeur (7-5, 6-7 (0) and 6-4 against Saville) and Ostapenko (7-5 ​​and 7-6 (4) against Rogers), On Monday, in the third round, she will face her friend Sara Sorribes, the brave girl from Castellón, who was able to come from behind in a great match and win 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in 2h31 over the Slovenian Kaja Juvan.

The serve gave Paula good returns, especially in a first round that she dominated with an unappealable 4-0 start. From there his rival woke up and the game was no longer easy. Aware of the certain power that having defeated Badosa three times gave her, Martincova tried to intimidate her, but the truth is that she swam against the current most of the time, and survived by prodigious defenses and because, perhaps, the Catalan lacked more decision to go up to the net in some points that she had very controlled. He relentlessly punished the player from Prague, who nevertheless knew how to reverse some situations and turn them in her favor. That’s why she held on until the tiebreaker. There it was already unraveled, exhausted. This is another very different Paula from the one he lost against her over and over again.

Indian Wells Masters 1,000 results.