A frustrated Badosa says goodbye to San Diego in the quarters

With frustration and impotence despite the fact that she did not give up at any time, Paula Badosa said goodbye to the WTA 500 tournament in San Diego (USA) this Friday when she fell in the quarterfinals against the American Danielle Collins.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
15 October 2022 Saturday 03:30
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A frustrated Badosa says goodbye to San Diego in the quarters

With frustration and impotence despite the fact that she did not give up at any time, Paula Badosa said goodbye to the WTA 500 tournament in San Diego (USA) this Friday when she fell in the quarterfinals against the American Danielle Collins. Australian Open finalist and world number 19, Collins beat the Spanish 7-6(5), 6-4 in a close two-hour duel.

Badosa, who is going through a series of bad results and who today out of sheer rage threw her racket to the ground in the outcome of the second set, is increasingly difficult to get to the WTA Finals, where the eight best tennis players of the season will compete . Her last option goes through the Masters 1000 in Guadalajara (Mexico).

At the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, so close to the Californian city's airport that the noise of planes taking off and landing is heard at every game, the first set between Badosa and Collins was a rollercoaster ride. Badosa lost her first two at-bats to a solid and very serious Collins with her forehand and her serve (4-1).

The first key moment of that initial set came with 4-2 and service for the American, a moment in which Badosa, far from giving the set for the lost, took the opportunity to squeeze his rival to the maximum. She was 0-40 but only on her eighth break point of that endless game did the Spaniard manage to break Collins (4-3).

It seemed that Badosa had already done the hard part but Collins broke his serve again and was only one game away from scoring the first set (5-3). Once again, Badosa had to row against the current, breaking the service of a Collins entangled in double faults twice in a row and finally took the lead with a great sacrifice lesson (5-6).

Nothing was easy in that first set and Collins achieved a "break" with a blank game that caused the "tie break", where the American, with one more point of precision and also of fortune (a couple of her balls hit the net and fell on Badosa's side), closed that first round after more than an hour of tennis as close as it was unpredictable.

The second set began with the two players exchanging service breaks but Collins, who received medical attention for neck problems, achieved a new "break" in the decisive stretch that put him very close to victory (4-3).

Badosa held on (5-4) but, in a flash of frustration at a magnificent shot from Collins, ended up sitting on the ground and tossing her racket to the ground, prompting a warning from the chair umpire. The Spanish two break points to have forced the 5-5, but Collins, serene from the serve, closed the victory.

In the rest of the quarterfinals, the Polish Iga Swiatek, number one in the world, easily got rid of the American Coco Gauff 6-0 and 6-3 in 65 minutes.

Swiatek will face American Jessica Pegula in the semifinals in San Diego, who eliminated her compatriot Madison Keys 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 33 minutes.

On the other side of the draw, Collins will play for a place in the final in San Diego against Croatian Donna Vekic, who starred in Friday's upset by beating Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, number 5 in the world, 6-4, 6 -7(5) and 6-1 in a tough game of two hours and 37 minutes.