Sara Sorribes and Paula Badosa went brilliantly to the second round of the Abu Dhabi WTA 500 this Friday with two different and equally worthy victories. Sorribes confirmed the good feelings she had shown in the first round and beat the 26-year-old American and 62nd in the world Bernarda Pera, who won the first set but then saw the Spanish come back to win by 5-7, 6-3 and 6-4 in a long battle of three hours and 23. Sorribes will face the winner of the duel on Sunday in the second round between the Russian Gasanova and the Czech Karolina Pliskova, third favorite of the tournament. Badosa, meanwhile, reached the third round of a tournament in this category, formerly known as Premier 700, for the first time in his career. He did it more easily than his compatriot after submitting the 30-year-old Frenchwoman and 53rd in the ranking Alize Cornet, who was number 11 in 2009, by a double 6-4 in 1h: 44. They will also be seen on Sunday with the 23-year-old Russian and 46th in the world Veronika Kudermetova, who got rid of the unknown Italian Bianca Turati (6-2 and 6-1) without problems.
Sorribes, who has improved a lot physically in the last two seasons, has come a long way since he left his previous working group with Germán Puentes, with whom he lived an incident sounded during a game a year and a half ago, and joined last summer with his friend Silvia Soler Espinosa, a former player who was his doubles partner several times. This Friday, the woman from Elche supported Sara from the stands in a tough match, played with a clean shot and in which patience was essential to find success. In the first set, Sorribes lost his serve three times and could not prevent Pera from taking the lead, despite the fact that he recovered two of them and was ahead (4-3). In the second, also with many alternatives, the Spanish achieved four breaks and took the jack to the water when it seemed that the American was going to come back and win the match. And in the third game, with her nerves on the surface, Bernarda took the lead and held on until in the eighth game, Sara broke her serve and won the next two brilliantly. Before, he had had several breakthrough occasions that escaped him. It is the fourth time he has beaten a left-handed tennis player.
Badosa's game was completely different, more orderly and with fewer breaks (only four). In fact, the New York-born Catalan only lost her serve once, in the first round, although later she came back to take advantage and in the second round she broke in the fifth game and held on with the break until the end. Paula has definitely let go. Now he hits with power and confidence both on the backhand and with the drive, and he moves much better around the track, with speed to reach the drops and respond in the exchanges. The preseason work with Javier Martí has paid off and Badosa is already an uncomfortable rival and difficult to overcome.
Abu Dhabi WTA 500 results.