Paula Badosa beat top-ranked Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 6-3 at the Volvo Car Open on Friday.<\/p>\n
Badosa reached the tournament semifinals in her first time at the season's opening clay-court tournament. And she was rarely pressured by Barty on the way to her first victory over a No. 1 player.<\/p>\n
Badosa broke Barty's serve five times including the last two times the Australian powerhouse served after the second set was tied 3-all.<\/p>\n
"I'm still a little bit shocked. I can't believe what just happened," the 23-year-old Badosa said. "When the ball went out, I was like 'What just happened right now?'"<\/p>\n
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It was the second time in her past four events that Badosa advanced to the semifinals. She'll face Russia's Veronika Kudermetova, the 15th seed, on Saturday for a spot in the championship final.<\/p>\n
Badosa, a former French Open junior champion, is the lowest-ranked player to beat Barty since September 2019.<\/p>\n
Barty was coming off a victory at the Miami Open last Saturday and looked strong in her first two matches in Charleston. But she fell behind Badosa and struggled to handle her opponent's serve.<\/p>\n
Despite the defeat, Barty was glad for the run that took her this far in preparations for the French Open.<\/p>\n
![\"Barty](\"https:\/\/vms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/2021\/03\/351074\/pickerImage.jpg\")
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"I think I took a few too many risks" in the match, Barty said. "But I think it's been an exceptional three weeks to start off our trip and we can nothing but the positives from it."<\/p>\n
As Badosa got closer to the upset, she worried about Barty's ability to rally. "Sometimes these matches are very tough to close," Badosa said. "Today, I'm quite happy that I managed it well."<\/p>\n
Danka Kovinic of Montenegro rallied after losing the first set to oust Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-7 (2), 7-5, 6-1. It's the first time Kovinic, ranked 91st in the world, advanced to a WTA semifinal in 14 tournaments since the Taipei OEC Open in November 2019.<\/p>\n
"I really think this clay suits me well," she said. "I just feel really, really good here."<\/p>\n
Kovinic will face Ons Jabeur of Tunisia on Saturday for a spot in the championship final. Jabeur, the 12th seed, defeated the youngest player in the field, 17-year-old American Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"