WTA Finals 2021 - Paula Badosa crushes Aryna Sabalenka to maintain winning run and start campaign in style
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Updated 12/11/2021 at 08:34 GMT
The Spanish seventh seed has now won her last seven matches, going back to her triumph at the Indian Wells Open, following a 6-4, 6-0 demolition of the Belarusian second seed in Guadalajara. Badosa sits top of the Chichén Itzá group with Maria Sakkari, who eased to victory over Iga Swiatek.
Paula Badosa crushed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-0 at the WTA Finals.
Image credit: Getty Images
Indian Wells champion Paula Badosa stretched her unbeaten run to seven matches with a dominant opening victory over Aryna Sabalenka at the WTA Finals.
The Spanish seventh seed opened her group stage campaign with a 6-4, 6-0 win over the Belarusian, which puts her top of the Chichén Itzá pool with Maria Sakkari, who beat Iga Swiatek.
Badosa looked on course for a very different evening when she lost an early break of serve, but from 2-4 down, she reeled off 10 straight games to crush the second seed in a devastating switch of momentum.
The turning point was undoubtedly in the seventh game of the first set, when Sabalenka squandered two game points at 40-15, before she was broken - and Badosa never looked back.
"In that moment maybe I was playing a little bit waiting what could happen and didn't want to miss," Badosa said.
"Sometimes the more you doubt in these conditions, the more you miss. So in that moment I accept the moment.
"I wasn't happy with my service game. I said to myself, 'OK, now you have to be as her level, aggressive, because she was being very aggressive.'
"I wanted to play against her. Let's see how it goes. Even though maybe it could go well, it could go bad. That's what I did. I said, Now you have to change, stop waiting for her miss and go for it. That's what I did."
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