Paula Badosa made a tremendous start at the 2024 Australian Open, beating Taylor Townsend in about an hour of play.
The American has had far more success in doubles recently, but she's no pushover in singles and one of the more challenging players to play against. However, Badosa still made her look pretty easy to beat with an impressive first-round performance at the season's first Grand Slam.
The Spanish player missed much of last year due to injuries but made a return a few weeks ago at the World Tennis League in Abu Dhabi. The New York-born player has had a really solid off-season and looked well in Abu Dhabi, which is why her loss to Bernarda Pera was a surprise.
Ultimately, it was not a huge deal because the first match for Badosa was superb in Melbourne. She bested her opponent 6-1 in the opening set thanks to super aggressive and precise play.
She totaled three aces in the opening set and ten winners overall while having only four unforced errors. The American didn't handle the pressure well at all, totaling 11 unforced errors, which was too much.
The fast-paced match didn't slow down in the second set as the players kept playing aggressively with rather short rallies. Badosa again jumped out to an early lead as she hit the ball amazingly from the baseline.
Townsend was a tiny bit better with her control but not as good as Badosa, who couldn't miss. Ultimately, that was more than enough to finish the match. The final score was 6-1 6-3 for Badosa, who moves to face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who bested Donna Vekic in the first round.
Paula Badosa vs Taylor Townsend Match Stats:
| Paula Badosa | Taylor Townsend | |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Aces | 1 |
| 2 | Double Faults | 2 |
| 60% | First Serve % | 63% |
| 96% (26/27) | Points Won After First Serve % | 69% (20/29) |
| 61% (11/16) | Points Won After Second Serve % | 24% (4/17) |
| 57% (4/7) | Break Point Conversion | 0% (0/3) |
| 23 | Winners | 13 |
| 7 | Unforced Errors | 22 |
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