Paula Badosa has been playing some inspired tennis recently, and she added yet another win, her sixth in a row, to advance at the 2024 Canadian Open in Toronto.
The Spaniard has been struggling with a chronic back injury for a very long time as the injury prevented her from playing regularly on the WTA Tour, and even when she did play, she failed to play her best tennis.
It's a type of injury that will never go away, even though, with time, she can get better at managing it. Her run at the Citi Open in Washington last week was significant in many ways.
Not only was it the first time in a long time that she looked like her former self, but it was also a title run, which she desperately needed, and that win's effects were also visible in Toronto.
She faced the always-tricky Clara Tauson in the opening round, and it wasn't a problem. There was no problem because the first set ended after only 31 minutes, and it showed 6-1 for Badosa.
It was a dominant display from the Spaniard, who served well, which is always a welcome sight. She dominated the rallies, especially on Tauson's second serve, and only after her first serve was the Danish player able to create any kind of pressure.
She needed to step up quite a bit in the second set and, in a way, she did. The Danish player was able to avoid getting broken in the first four games of the match.
However, she couldn't break either, which is what she needed to do to really keep herself in the match. Badosa could handle any kind of pressure on her serve with ease for much of the day.
She also created the first break chances in the second set at 2-2 and immediately broke to take a 3-2 lead. There was very little hope for Tauson to fight back, as, until that point, she could barely exert any kind of pressure on Badosa.
The Spaniard was just serving too well and was just too confident in her game. Nothing was going wrong for her, and she wasn't going to be denied the victory.
It has been a fascinating rise by Badosa, and it has all to do with how her run in Washington went. So much in tennis is tied to confidence, and having that run in Washington lifted Badosa's confidence over the top, which is clearly shown in how she's playing tennis right now.
After confirming the break and taking a 4-2 lead, Baodsa didn't really stop there. She kept applying pressure, as Tauson had no idea what to do. She found herself facing more break points but was somehow able to wiggle out of that and keep it close at 3-4.
Not only that, but she could actually break to make it 4-4 in a bizarre twist that didn't seem possible. It wouldn't last long, as Badosa would immediately break again to take a 5-4 lead and, after that, closed it out with a solid hold to win the match 6-1, 6-4.
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