Mumbai: After three consecutive, and successful, serves down the T, Paula Badosa went for a cleverly placed serve out wide. It put her on the front foot in the rally. Her second shot pushed the opponent deep and drew a short return.
Paula Badosa defeated Naomi Osaka with a 6-7 (1/7), 6-1, 6-4 win in the first round of the French Open. (REUTERS)
She glided forward and dispatched it with an inside-in forehand winner.
Immediately, both arms went in the air and a smile stretched across her face. She was past the first hurdle at the French Open – and a mighty big one as well. In a match that lasted two hours and 21 minutes, the Spaniard came from behind to beat four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The win comes just over a year after Badosa was told by doctors that she may have to cut short her tennis career due to a back injury that refused to heal.
On Monday, Badosa, the world No.10 battled it out against former world No.1 Osaka. Yet she gave no indication that there was anything ailing her physically. She was prepared to put in the legwork. She served bigger than Osaka, clocking an average of 173 kmph to her opponent’s 169. She won more points (109 to 89), converted more break points (five to two) and conceded half the number of unforced errors compared to Osaka’s 54.
The numbers only one tell a part of the story though. This was always expected to be a tough battle.
On one end was Osaka, a hard-court specialist but never an opponent to be underestimated. At world No.49, she is still finding her way back up the ranking ladder after returning to the tour from maternity leave in January 2024. The 27-year-old Japanese player has historically struggled on clay, but at the French Open last year, she put in an incredible performance and was close to upsetting defending champion Iga Swiatek in what was the match of the tournament.
Then there is Badosa.
The Spaniard, a month Osaka’s junior, had risen to the world No.2 spot in 2022, but suffered a stress fracture on her back that forced her to cut short her season after Wimbledon 2023.
She started last year ranked 66, but the injury continued to wreak havoc and she dropped down to 140.
“In Indian Wells (March 2024), the doctors told me it would be very complicated to continue my career,” Badosa had told WTA Inside Podcast last year, adding that the only solution handed to her was regular cortisone shots injected into her back to manage the pain.
“They said this is the only option we can give you and maybe you will have to keep doing that if you want to play for a few more years. I said, ‘A few more years? I’m still 26.’ For me that was very tough.”
Despite the pain, she managed to turn things around and broke back into the top 20.
Then came the impressive run to the semi-final at the Australian Open this year, which included a quarter-final win over then world No.3 Coco Gauff, which helped her get back into the top 10.
An opening round match against Osaka so early at a Grand Slam though would always be tricky.
“Honestly, it’s not fair to play her in the first round,” she said in her post-match interview. “But I’m happy with the level especially coming from an injury. I was looking forward to this match, I was excited.”
Badosa did have the first big chance in the match having broken Osaka to go up 6-5 in the first set. The Japanese however fought back immediately to take the set into the tie break and ran away with it 7-1.
“When I lost the first set, the first thing I did was look over there (Nadal’s footprints) and for inspiration I said to myself, ‘Come on, Paula, you have to fight like him.’ Thanks Rafa, we miss you so much,” said Badosa.
The Spaniard bounced back admirably, hitting heavy groundstrokes in the second set to win it 6-1 in 24 minutes.
In the third though, Osaka found an early break and took a 2-0 lead, only for Badosa to fight her way back and level the score. Badosa managed to get the decisive break in the seventh game of the set at 30.
Osaka threatened to find a break back immediately, but Badosa managed to hold on in a game that lasted just under nine minutes. The next time she came out to serve though, she made quick work of it to secure the match.
“I have worked a lot mentally for these moments, for the important moments, to try to keep it simple,” she added. “I tried to focus a bit like a robot in that moment because I know emotions come and it’s going to be much tougher. But today was a really fun match.”
AloJapan.com