Barty makes it sweet 16 as she avenges Badosa defeat in Madrid
ASH BARTY saw off Paula Badosa in straight sets to reach the final of the Madrid Open, extending her unbeaten streak on clay to 16 matches.
The world number one triumphed 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday, taking her record for 2021 to an impressive 25-3.
Badosa is the only player to have beaten Barty since February, but the Spaniard was unable to pull off a repeat of her upset in their quarterfinal clash in Charleston last month.
The world number 62 had become the first Spanish player to reach the semi-finals in Madrid and there was little to split the pair through the opening nine games.
However, when serving at 5-4 down to stay in the set, Badosa suddenly came under pressure.
The wildcard saved two set points but gifted her opponent a 1-0 lead with a double fault. A similar situation early in the second put Barty 3-1 up, though she had to save three break points in her next service game.
After escaping trouble on that occasion, the Australian had no further issues on her way to completing the win after one hour and 15 minutes on court.
Standing in her way of a fourth title this season will be either Aryna Sabalenka or Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova; they will meet in the second semifinal in the evening session in the Spanish capital.
The in-form Barty has already been crowned champion at the Yarra Valley Classic this year, as well as events in Miami and Stuttgart.
Sabalenka moves on as Mertens retires
No.5 seed Aryna Sabalenka kept on motoring through the clay-court season, although her latest victory came to an early end as her friend and frequent doubles partner Elise Mertens withdrew from their quarterfinal due to a left thigh injury while trailing 6-1, 4-0.
“I feel really sorry for this, and I hope that she will get better soon,” Sabalenka said to the press after the match. “Hopefully she will be ready for the next one in Rome.”
Celebrating her 23rd birthday today, Sabalenka is now up to 8-1 on the dirt thus far in 2021, with her run to the Stuttgart final being followed by a dominant display in Madrid, where she is still yet to drop a set.
A clash against No.13 seed Mertens held much promise; the close-knit pair had played six times previously with Sabalenka holding the 4-2 edge, but Mertens had won their only previous clay-court clash, which came in the Lugano final in 2018.
The combatants, who have won two Grand Slam doubles titles together, including at this year’s Australian Open, never got their match off the ground as Sabalenka was in complete control early on, while Mertens struggled with her injury during the latter stages. The Belgian ultimately ended the tilt before it hit the one-hour mark.
Sabalenka’s semifinal opponent will be Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who defeated Karolina Muchova in two tiebreak sets, 7-6(4), 7-6(2) to post a career-best result.