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Why Paula Badosa is one player to watch in 2022

Roar Guru
16th January, 2022
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Roar Guru
16th January, 2022
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While the focus of the tennis world may be on a potential fourth-round showdown between world number one Ashleigh Barty and two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open, one player who could loom as a title dark horse is Paula Badosa.

The 24-year-old ended season 2021 as one of the most improved players on tour, winning her first two career titles, defeating top-ranked Barty on the clay courts of Charleston, reaching her first major quarter-final, qualifying for the WTA Finals and finishing the year ranked inside the top ten.

Ashleigh Barty serves

Ash Barty was among Badosa’s big scalps. (Chaz Niell/Getty Images)

The second of those titles was won by defeating two-time champion Victoria Azarenka in the final of the Indian Wells tournament in California last October. She won it the hard way by breaking the Belarussian as she was serving for the title at *5-4 in the deciding set.

She also reached her first major quarter-final at the French Open, where despite being up a break in the final set, she lost to Tamara Zidansek in three sets after defeating 2019 finalist Marketa Vondrousova in the previous round.

An impressive breakout season saw her finish in the top eight in the Race to Guadalajara, thus qualifying for the WTA Finals. In her debut appearance at the tournament, Badosa reached the semi-finals, only to be beaten by compatriot and eventual champion Garbine Muguruza.

With Carlos Alcaraz winning the Next Generation ATP Finals, which was held the previous week, it is vindication that the future of Spanish tennis is indeed very bright. And although Muguruza and Rafael Nadal are in the twilight of their respective careers, they still remain serious contenders at the majors.

Alcaraz, aged 18 and seeded 31st for the season-opening major, also produced a breakout season last year, rapidly climbing up the rankings, facing his idol Nadal on his 18th birthday in Madrid, and reaching the quarter-finals at the US Open, upsetting Stefanos Tsitsipas en route.

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After a season-opening loss to Azarenka at the Adelaide International to kick off the new season, Badosa hit back this past week by claiming her third career title, defeating reigning French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova in a thrilling three-set final of the Sydney Tennis Classic.

Paula Badosa.

(Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

In a match where neither player could really assert their dominance, the Spaniard broke in the opening game, and despite being broken back later in the set broke Krejcikova’s serve to love to take the opening set 6-3.

However, the 26-year-old hit back to take the second set, breaking in the ninth game and then serving it out to force a one-set championship shootout.

Badosa appeared to get the upper hand early in the final set, breaking for a 1-0 lead and then having a game point for a 3-0 lead, but Krejcikova would not throw in the towel, breaking back for 3-all and with games going on serve until the death, a tiebreak would ultimately settle the matter.

The Spaniard, born in New York, dominated the tiebreak to claim it 7-4, sealing a three-set victory and ensuring her undefeated record in career finals remains intact (three from three).

Highlighting just how impressive her run to the title was, she also defeated former French Open titlist Jelena Ostapenko, Australian Ajla Tomljanovic (who she will meet again in the first round of the Australian Open) and Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic along the way.

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The win sees her reach a new career-high ranking of number six and makes her one of the dark horses for the title at Melbourne Park.

If she does go all the way at the Australian Open, she will become the first player since Victoria Azarenka in 2012 to claim the Sydney-Melbourne double (that is, winning the Sydney International and the Australian Open back-to-back) in the same year.

As mentioned above, Badosa kicks off her campaign at Melbourne Park against Ajla Tomljanovic tonight. It is the second match of the night session on Margaret Court Arena.

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With no points to defend because of a first-round loss last year, she can earn fresh rankings points at will and therefore continue her impressive climb up the rankings.

The Spaniard was one of several players confined to hard quarantine 12 months ago when she was identified as a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case that was on the same flight to Melbourne as her.

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After being critical of the quarantine conditions, which included a lack of fresh air among other things, she later tested positive to the virus.

The under-preparedness eventually conspired against her as she lost to Russian qualifier Liudmila Samsonova in her opening round match in three sets, when a win would’ve seen her pitted against compatriot Garbine Muguruza in the second round.

The experience only made her stronger as she produced an impressive breakthrough season as has already been summarised above, and on the back of her impressive title win, she will be one of the players to watch at the Australian Open this year.

Should she get to the fourth round as projected, she could face 2020 champion Sofia Kenin, and then Barbora Krejcikova in the quarters in a rematch of their Sydney final.

If Badosa can reach the semi-finals, she’d join a list of players whose first career major semi-final came at Melbourne Park, including, among others, Sloane Stephens (2013), Eugenie Bouchard (2014), Madison Keys (2015), Johanna Konta (2016) and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (2017).

But that’s all still ahead of her – the real question remains, can she fly under the radar at Melbourne Park and shift the attention away from the likes of Ashleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka over the upcoming fortnight of tennis?

Naomi Osaka plays a backhand

(Photo by Fred Lee/Getty Images)

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Among the matches to watch on Day 1 include the following.

Rod Laver Arena
Day session – play starts at 11:00am AEDT
Tatjana Maria (GER) vs [5] Maria Sakkari (GRE)
Camila Osorio (COL) vs [13] Naomi Osaka (JPN)
Marcos Giron (USA) vs [6] Rafael Nadal (ESP)

Night session – play starts at 7:00pm AEDT
[1] Ashleigh Barty (AUS) vs Lesia Tsurenko (UKR)
[3] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs Daniel Altmaier (GER)

Margaret Court Arena
Day session – play starts at 11:00am AEDT
Fiona Ferro (FRA) vs [15] Elina Svitolina (UKR)
Brandon Nakashima (USA) vs [7] Matteo Berrettini (ITA)
Qiang Wang (CHN) vs [18] Coco Gauff (USA)

Night session – play starts at 7:00pm AEDT
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) vs John Millman (AUS)
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) vs [8] Paula Badosa (ESP)

John Cain Arena
Day session – play starts at 11:00am AEDT
Laslo Djere (SRB) vs [14] Denis Shapovalov (CAN)
[10] Hubert Herkacz (POL) vs Egor Gerasimov (BLR)
Not before 5:00pm AEDT
[11] Sofia Kenin (USA) vs Madison Keys (USA)
Jaume Minar (ESP) vs [18] Aslan Karatsev (RUS)

For the full order of play for Day 1, please check out the Australian Open website.

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