The Belarusian Victoria Azarenka needed only 30 minutes to defeat the Spanish Paula Badosa, the first favorite of the Master 1,000 in Guadalajara, who retired after losing the first set 6-2. At the close of the third day of the tournament, Vika was superior, with 93 percent of points won with the first service against an opponent with little response capacity, who committed eight unforced errors and lacked effectiveness with her serve.
The Spanish Paula Badosa, eighth in the WTA ranking, revealed this Thursday that she has been ill for days and that is why she withdrew against the Belarusian Victoria Azarenka at the Master 1,000 in Guadalajara.
"I'm very sorry I couldn't continue, but I've been sick for days. I've tried to recover by all means and it hasn't been possible. I'm very sad to leave because I was looking forward to competing here in Guadalajara, where I have beautiful memories," said the Catalan , retired after losing the first set 6-2.
Badosa's problems began in the first game, in which he showed little sense of distance and suffered the break. 'Vika' extended the lead to 2-0 and provoked an adverse reaction from the Spaniard who exchanged unkind comments with her corner and made gestures of feeling uncomfortable, although she hid her physical discomfort well.
In the third 'game' Vika, with good returns, broke again and marked the course of the set by confirming the break and going ahead 4-0. Perhaps moved by the cries of ¡Paula!, Paula! On the part of most of the fans, Badosa looked better in the fifth game, he kept his serve, but the disadvantage by then was too much, against a rival with the experience of Azarenka, champion of two 'Grand Slams', who was 51 weeks as the best in the world. With the score 5-1 against, Paula improved her serve and got closer, but the Belarusian continued almost perfectly with her service and took the set 6-2 in half an hour.
By losing, Paula Badosa saw the possibility of qualifying for the WTA Finals slip away, which marks the end of the 2022 season, which was ups and downs for her. "I must learn from the experiences of this year, difficult, hard, which hopefully will be the before and after of my career. I need to manage the pressure. I have room for improvement and I hope to improve myself to become number one," she confessed to Efe. tennis player a few hours ago.
In the round of 16, Azarenja will face the American Madison Keys, winner 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 of the Australian Alja Tomljanovic.
The Guadalajara Master 1,000 takes place on a hard court with a prize pool of 2,585,422 euros / 2,527,250 dollars. The contest will be the last big one before the WTA Finals that will bring together the eight best tennis players in the world in Fort Worth between October 31 and November 7.
