Paula Badosa returned to the tennis courts at the 2024 Ningbo Open, but she needed a comeback to win her first match at the WTA 500 event.
The Spanish player's past few weeks have been very interesting, both in positive and negative ways. After reaching the US Open quarter-finals, she continued her good form also at the China Open in Beijing, reaching the semi-final.
She led 6-4 and 4-2 against Coco Gauff, but that's where the positives ended for Badosa. She lost the match to Gauff in three sets, in what was a brutal loss for the Spaniard.
She then penned an emotional message to herself and her fans, reflecting on the difficult loss. But things took a turn for even worse after that, as Badosa was accused of racism after a picture posted by her coach, Pol Toledo Balague, showed the Spanish player seemingly mocking Asians.
She almost immediately apologized for her actions, but that wasn't the end of misery for the former World No. 2. Only hours later, Badosa withdrew from the Wuhan Open, citing an illness as a reason for her withdrawal.
Some fans speculated that she might have chosen to leave China after the backlash following the controversy with the picture, but that seemingly wasn't the case.
Badosa appeared in the draw for the 2024 Ningbo Open, but the draw for the WTA 500 event was brutal to her. As one of the seeded players, Badosa drew the highest-ranked non-seeded player, Diana Shnaider, who is ranked only two positions below her.
It was already their fifth meeting this year, with each player winning twice before. While the Spanish player won on clay twice, the Russian triumphed on the hard courts in Hua Hin, where Badosa retired, and then on the grass in Bad Homburg.
This match, started better for Shnaider. Both players had one break point in the second and third games of the first set, but after those remained unused, player seemingly headed into a tie-break.
That wasn't true, as the Russian player was able to break her opponent's serve at the best possible moment, in the tenth game of the set to win it 6-4.
But Badosa wasn't ready to give up. She played an almost flawless second set, dominating on her serve, winning 93% of points after her first serve, and using two out of three break chances that she had.
That resulted in a swift second-set victory, 6-3, for the Spanish player, who forced the decider in this blockbuster first-round clash at the 2024 Ningbo Open.
Both players struggled massively on their serve in the third set. Out of the first six games of the set, Badosa held her serve only once, while her opponent didn't manage to do it even once.
That meant the former World No. 2 player led 4-2, but she had to save two break points in the following game. That proved to be crucial, as after that, she was able to hold her serve to win the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, and set up a second-round clash with Xiyu Wang.