Paula Badosa remains on the verge of the final of the Beijing tournament, WTA 1000 category and played on hard, after falling in the semi-final against the American Coco Gauff 4-6, 6-4 and 6-2, against whom they lost a juicy two-game lead in the second set. The Spanish tennis player led 6-4 and 4-2 in the second set.
The Catalan, who was looking for her second final of the season, dominated the match 6-4 and 4-2, but six matches won in a row by the North American showed her moment of disconnection and completely turned around the match that would end up in the third final set. Coco Gauff woke up in time and took advantage of Paula’s slowdown to save a match that had become very difficult for her.
Badosa showed his confidence in a first series of long exchanges in which he managed to break his rival’s serve in the fifth game. Gauff hit back with a break in a drawn-out eighth game, but the world number 19 left no room for doubt and responded with a counterattack final result which earned him the first partial.
With a break he opened the second roundin which the American survived five chances of to break Spaniards, who continued in their lineage. However, he let Gauff escape and she bared her claws to claim a vital break in the eighth game to make it six won games in a row. The North American equalized and opened the gap in the second half (2-0), even if Badosa stopped the bleeding with another break.
The Spanish tennis player refused to leave the match at the start of the last set. Paula wanted to continue dreaming of playing in a final again. But Gauff had already taken the plunge, and two new breaks allowed him to end the duel and swing it in his favor after two hours and 20 minutes of gameplay.
NOW, Gauff will aim for her second trophy in the WTA 1000 category and the fifth overall against the winner of the other semi-final duel, between the Chinese Qinwen Zheng and the Czech Karolina Muchova, semi-finalist of the US Open. The American survived a great match from Paula Badosa, who seems to be slowly regaining the good feelings that led her to be number two in the WTA rankings in 2022. Despite the defeat, the Spanish tennis player is on the right path. In Cincinnati he reached the semi-finals, the US Open reached the quarter-finals and here he repeated the semi-finals. The Catalan is getting closer and closer to the possibility of winning a title again.
