Caroline Garcia Defeats Ana Bogdan in Poland Open Final to Claim Ninth WTA Career Title

Posted on July 31, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Caroline Garcia is celebrating another title…

The 28-year-old Spanish-French tennis player beat Ana Bogdan 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday to win the Poland Open to claim her ninth WTA title.

It’s the second trophy of the year for Garcia, along with one at the grass-court Bad Homburg Open, which was her first title in three years.

Garcia could rely more on her serve in her 12th career final. Garcia won 72% of her first-service points, compared to 47% by Bogdan, who was playing in her first final.

The former fourth-ranked Garcia has won 18 of her past 21 matches.

In Warsaw, she upset top-ranked Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals, ending her clay-court winning streak at 18 matches.

With the victory, Garcia improved to 2-0 against her Romanian opponent.

Caroline Garcia Defeats Jasmine Paolini to Reach Poland Open Final

Posted on July 30, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Caroline Garcia is one step closer her ninth WTA title…

The Spanish-French tennis player defeated Jasmine Paolini 6-1, 6-2 at the Poland Open on Saturday to advance to her 12th career final, where she will face Ana Bogdan.

Garcia will seek her ninth career WTA title and second this year after winning the grass-court Bad Homburg Open.

Garcia, who a day earlier ended top-ranked Iga Swiatek‘s clay-court winning streak, broke her 10th-seeded Italian opponent four times to improve to 3-0 against her.

The former world No. 4 served six aces on a rainy day in Warsaw en route to her 17th win in her past 20 matches.

Bogdan reached her first career WTA final by defeating Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine 7-5, 7-5.

Leylah Fernandez Defeats Amanda Anisimova to Reach Her First-Ever French Open Quarterfinals

Posted on May 29, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a new personal best for Leylah Fernandez at the French Open…

The 19-year-old half-Ecuadorian Canadian tennis player outlasted USA’s Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in their fourth-round match on Sunday in Paris, France to reach her first-ever quarterfinals at Roland Garros.

Fernandez’s opportunities abound in a decimated women’s singles draw that lost nine of its top 10 seeds in the first week.

Only world No. 1 Iga Swiatek remains. She’s in the other half, and the two could only meet in the final.

“It was a very hard match, an incredible match for the both of us. I think we brought a high level,” Fernandez said of the win over Anisimova.

The American was a women’s singles semifinalist at age 17, in 2019, the year 16-year-old Fernandez won the junior girls’ title.

Since then, their careers have gone in somewhat opposite directions.

“I’m just glad that today I was able to fight through some difficult moments and just enjoy the game as much as possible,” Fernandez added.

Fernandez, now based in Florida, will next face No. 59 ranked Martina Trevisan, who beat Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6 (10), 7-5 in the fourth round on Sunday.

Fernandez is the first Canadian woman to make the Roland Garros quarterfinals since Eugenie Bouchard in 2014.

Paula Badosa Overtakes Barbora Krejcikova as WTA’s No. 2 Player in the World

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Paula Badosa is movin’ on up…

The 24-year-old Spanish tennis player has overtaken French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova as the No.2 player in the world.

Badosa has been chasing the World No.2 ranking for weeks, only to come one match short.

But on Friday at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Badosa finally came through after defeating Ons Jabeur to advance to the semifinals. Badosa celebrated the feat by drawing a heart and the number two on the center court clay.

“I was aware [I was close] for weeks, I’m not going to lie,” Badosa told WTA Insider after the win. “In Charleston, I needed one more match: nothing. In Miami, one more match: I had to retire.

“It was a goal and I really wanted to be in that position. For me, it’s a dream come true so I was really going after it. So I’m really happy that today I could do it and I could leave that mental block out of it from the match and I could play pretty well. I think I played a high-level match.”

This time 12 months ago, Badosa was ranked No.62 and just on the verge of her climb up the rankings. Her rise began with a run to the Madrid Open semifinals as a wildcard, her first such run at a WTA 1000 event, and she capitalized on her momentum by winning her first WTA title in Belgrade and first quarterfinal run at a Slam at the French Open.

But Badosa’s ascent to the upper echelons of the game came in the fall when she captured her biggest title in Indian Wells to break into the Top 10 and qualify for the WTA Finals. She finished the season ranked a career-high No.8.

Now came the challenge of backing up her breakout season.

Badosa was open about dealing with the new set of pressure and expectations, but she has handled her newfound status incredibly well. Badosa began the season by proving she wasn’t just a clay-court wonder, winning the title in Sydney. She went on to make the Indian Wells semifinals and Miami quarterfinals last month.

“I was talking with my coach about Iga Swiatek because I remember last year she was suffering a lot with every match,” Badosa said. “I remember seeing her crying on the court.

“But at the beginning of this year I was talking to my coach and I said I totally understand now what she’s feeling. Because at the beginning I didn’t know what was happening. This happens to me now. I wanted to cry in the third set today. There’s so much pressure on you and at the end of the day, you’re all alone on the court. It’s a very mental game. But I’m happy I’m getting through it.”

Badosa has not taken her high-level consistency for granted. That’s been the key to her success.

“A lot of people are maybe used to seeing me winning matches, but it’s not a normal thing,” Badosa said. “Mentally, it’s changed. I feel pressure, I feel expectations, like you have to do a minimum of results to have people feel happy and calm. It’s a big change. And I feel it with my opponents. They play against me, and maybe I’m a little bit more tight and they play loose.

“Now I admire even more my idols because it’s a very tough process. But I think I’m doing it well and I’m trying to focus on myself and what I have to do in that moment and not think about those things. I know that maybe now I’m doing well, but next week I can lose against anyone because the level is very high. The most important is to stay humble and work, have a good relationship like I have with my team and keep going.”

In the semifinals, Badosa los to her recent doubles partner Aryna Sabalenka.

Paula Badosa Advances to Semifinals at the WTA Finals

Posted on November 14, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Paula Badosa is on to the next round…

The 23-year-old Spanish tennis player has extended her winning streak to eight matches on Saturday with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Maria Sakkari to qualify for the semifinals at the WTA Finals.

After edging Sakkari, Badosa had to wait for the result of the late match between Iga Swiatek and top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who prevailed 2-6, 6-2, 7-5, to see if she advanced to the semifinals as the top player in her group.

“It was quite a tough match. I served well. I fought for every point. I knew was going to be a battle against Maria,” said Badosa. “I think I stayed aggressive. I was moving well. When you win these kind of matches you have to do a little bit of everything well.”

The WTA Finals, canceled last year because of the pandemic, are played in a round-robin format with the top two players from each group of four moving on to the semifinals.

The semifinals will be played on Tuesday and the final is set for Wednesday at the Centro Panamericano de Tenis in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara, the second-largest city in Mexico.

Badosa, ranked No. 63 a year ago, is having a breakthrough season. She won the first two titles of her career in 2021 (Belgrade and Indian Wells) and is among the six players to have made their top-10 debut this season.

“To be honest, I’m quite new. I was 70, 80 in the world at the beginning of the year. I think I got my first top-10 win maybe four months ago, and I needed experience,” Badosa said. “When I got that experience, all of that things, it went well. I think I’m quite competitive. I think I needed a little bit to adjust myself, to be here and play these kind of matches, to learn.”

Swiatek, Sakkari, Anett Kontaveit and Barbora Krejcikova, all of them playing at this tournament, are the others along with Ons Jabeur, who narrowly missed out on a place in Guadalajara.

“I think it was a very high-level match from both of us. Even though I lost, that gives me a lot of confidence for my last match in the round-robin,” said Sakkari, who remains in contention. “I haven’t seen any combinations or anything. I know that I’ll give myself a better chance if I win the next match. I’m just going to focus on that. Anything else, it’s just irrelevant at the moment.”

Sakkari will play Sabalenka on Monday for the last remaining semifinal berth. Kontaveit has already secured a semifinal place in the other group.

Sabalenka, who won titles in Abu Dhabi and Madrid this season, is the first seed in Mexico because world No. 1-ranked Ashleigh Barty of Australia decided not to defend her WTA Finals title due to continuing COVID-19 travel and quarantine restrictions. Barty had to undergo two weeks of quarantine when she returned to her Brisbane home in September after the U.S. Open and did not want to do the same again traveling to Mexico.

The WTA Finals are being played in Guadalajara for this year only, with the event scheduled to return in 2022 to Shenzhen, China.

Paula Badosa Upsets Top Seed Aryna Sabalenka in Debut Career Match at WTA Finals

Posted on November 12, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Paula Badosa is off to a stellar start…

The 23-year-old Spanish professional tennis player, competing in her first-ever WTA Finals, started off slowly but won 10 games in a row to upset top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-0 on Thursday in their opening match at the WTA Finals.

Sabalenka, the world´s No. 2-ranked player, dominated early in the match to take a 4-2 lead, but Badosa recovered and won four games in a row to win the first set and then controlled the second with three breaks.

“I played pretty good, the conditions here are tough to play, but I played an amazing match. I knew I had to play like this to beat her,” Badosa said.

Sabalenka, who won titles in Abu Dhabi and Madrid this season, is the first seed in Mexico because world No. 1 Ash Barty of Australia decided not to defend her WTA Finals title due to continuing COVID-19 travel and quarantine restrictions.

Barty had to undergo two weeks of quarantine when she returned to her Brisbane home in September after the US Open and did not want to do the same again traveling to Mexico.

“I am really disappointed of myself and this match, but hopefully I can bring myself back,” Sabalenka said.

Badosa is having a breakthrough season after starting the year ranked 70th. She will next play Maria Sakkari, who used her strong first serve to extend her dominance over former French Open champoin Iga Swiatek with a 6-2, 6-4 win earlier Thursday.

“My life has changed so much and very fast, I have so much more stress now with a lot of eyes on me,” Badosa said. “The ceiling is high for me, I have always dream big, I want to play in this type of tournaments to play against the best and being challenged every day.”

All of the players are having to adjust their game to the nearly 5,000-feet altitude of Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city.

The tournament, which was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, features a round-robin group stage before the semifinals.

The WTA Finals are being played in Guadalajara for this year only, with the event scheduled to return to Shenzhen, China, in 2022.

Nadia Podoroska Becomes First Qualifier in Open Era to Reach French Open Women’s Semifinals

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Nadia Podoroska continues to surprise while making history at Roland Garros…

The 23-year-old Argentine tennis player knocked out Elina Svitolina, the French Open‘s third seed on Tuesday, becoming the first qualifier to reach the women’s semifinals at the French tournament in the Open era.

Podoroska threw her racket in the air, tilted her head back and pumped both fists after stopping Svitolina from reaching a third semifinal in her past four Grand Slam tournaments.

Ranked 131st in the world, Podoroska had never won a main draw Grand Slam match before last week, and she could hardly believe it when she won 6-2, 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Podoroska is only the third female qualifier to get to the semifinals at any major tournament in the Open era, which began in 1968, and the first since Alexandra Stevenson at Wimbledon in 1999.

Afterward, she was asked whether she was pinching herself to make sure it wasn’t all just a dream.

“No,” Podoroska replied. “I don’t want to wake up.”

Serving at 5-4 down, Svitolina saved two match points, the second with an audacious slice at the net to end a 27-shot rally.

But on the third match point, Podoroska hit a crisp forehand winner and then chucked her racket up toward the blue sky.

Podoroska, who is from the same city in Argentina as soccer superstar Lionel Messi, said she considered quitting tennis altogether a couple of years ago after “too many injuries,” including to her right wrist.

She was off the tour for eight months; her ranking dropped; she didn’t have enough money to travel to tournaments; she split with a coach she’d been working with for a decade.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Podoroska said.

She stuck with it, though, and now has a new team around her, based in Spain. And, by far, the best results of her career.

Svitolina, though, blamed herself for this outcome.

“Lots of things were not going my way,” Svitolina said. “I was not 100 percent mentally on it today, and that was really disappointing.”

In the semifinals, Podoroska will face unseeded 19-year-old Iga Swiatek.

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