Paula Badosa loves to play at the Madrid Open, but her stay in 2024 didn't last long, losing to the world no. 93, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
Bouzas Maneiro is currently ranked higher than Badosa, who is the world no. 101, but with an Indian Wells Open title to her name, and previously reaching the world no. 2 rank, it was clear who the favourite in this match was.
However, Badosa struggles a lot with her body, and she even admitted that she was told her career might come to a stop earlier than she wished, as a chronic back injury is stopping her from competing regularly.
Luckily for her, she managed to compete at the WTA 1000 tournament in her home country, but it was a short stay, despite a great start to the match from Badosa, who was much better than her opponent in the opening set.
Although she lost the opening two games, she rallied to win six games in a row to win the first set of the match 6-2, saving two break points in the process, while using three of her five chances to break.
The second set, however, started disastrously for Badosa. She lost four consecutive games and was 0-40 down to go 0-5 down, but incredibly saved four break points in that game to make it 1-4, and then recovered one of the breaks to make it 2-4.
Still, that wasn't enough to turn the set around, as even though she added one more re-break, she also lost both of her serves, meaning that Badosa lost the second set 3-6, sending the match into the decider.
Bouzas Maneiro was feeling a chance to win this match, but also some nerves. She faced a break point early in the third set, but after saving that, she broke her opponent's serve to lead 4-2, only to lose that one-break advantage.
Still, Badosa wasn't able to increase her level further, as from 3-4 and 30-0, she lost eight consecutive points to lose the match 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
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